Occidental’s student newspaper is beginning to run out of wall space.
The Occidental Weekly added to its growing list of awards by winning two first-place awards and producing four finalists in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Region 11 2014 Mark of Excellence Awards competition.
By winning first place awards in best all-around non-daily newspaper and breaking news reporting in the small schools category (colleges and universities with fewer than 9,999 students), the Weekly punched its ticket to compete in the SPJ’s national competition. Juliet Suess 14’s breaking news coverage of an April 2014 protest outside a trustee meeting was named a national finalist.
SPJ’s Region 11 includes Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada. This is the second consecutive year that the Weekly has produced work that has gone on to the SPJ nationals.
Earlier this spring the Weekly took home five other collegiate journalism awards, including finalist in the Associated Collegiate Press competition for best small newspaper and most outstanding college weekly newspaper from the American Scholastic Press Association.
In addition to its two SPJ first-place awards, the Weekly produced finalists in breaking news photography (Jeremy Bloom ‘18), general column writing (Will Westwater ’16), sports column writing (Joe Siegal ’15), and sports writing (Margaret Su ‘18).
In the California College Media Association competition, the Weekly won third place awards for breaking news photography and best special section.
