The Bachelor took home nine awards from the Indiana Collegiate Press Association (ICPA) convention Saturday. The awards included first-place finishes in both the Best Special Issue and Best Sports Page categories. This strong performance is the first time in three years the Bachelor submitted entries for the competition.
Bachelor advisor Howard Hewitt was quick to praise the entire staff for the victories. "I think the nine awards are a real tribute to the entire staff. Most of our wins were staff awards or projects that included several contributors," he said. "Almost every school we compete against has some sort of journalism program, so to be competitive in an awards field against those schools should be very gratifying to every Bachelor staff member."
Hewitt accompanied staffers Patrick Smith ’08, Rob Fenoglio ’09, and Josh Harris ’08 to the meeting. While at the convention, Bachelor writers attended discussions on journalistic ethics and narrative news writing, a keynote address by blogger and media critic Mike Glaser, and met students from other journalism programs.
The Bachelor competes in the Division III section. That section is for colleges with two thousand or fewer students. Many of the schools in that division have established journalism or communications courses or even programs. Wabash College does not offer any such courses, and the Bachelor is entirely student-run and student-managed.
The Bachelor’s August 24th back-to-school issue took the top prize in the Best Special Issue category. "An amazing back-to-school issue, the first of its kind for this publication," the judge said of the August 24th issue. The Division III entries were judged by Ball State journalism faculty. "Personality profiles of faculty and students are engaging, and columns discuss issues relevant to the student body. From start to finish, the best in a competitive category."
The October 6th issue took third place in the Best Single Issue competition. In the Best Overall Design category, the September 7th issue took third place. Patrick Smith’s column, "Football Bleeds Charity," won second place in the Best Opinion Column competition. The Bachelor took both second and third places in the Best Staff Editorial category, with "Tradition No Excuse To Give Up Control" and "Free Press Essential To Open Campus."
Aaron Parrish ’08 took the first place spot in the Best Sports Page competition, with the August 24th issue. Bachelor Photographers Brock Johnson ’07 and Steve Abbott ’09 both took home second place finishes in the Best News Photo and Best Sports Photo categories respectively. Johnson’s "Chapel Sing" and Abbott’s "Hope Fades" received praise for being unique, unusual photos.
"The Bachelor has really had a long history of good photography. I was particularly pleased to see Brock Johnson and Steve Abbott do well in this year's contest," Hewitt said.
Hewitt views the victories as signs of good things to come. "With the group of guys we have moving into editor chairs next school year, I have little doubt we'll increase the haul next March at the ICPA's Terre Haute convention," he said.
The Wabash Commentary, the conservative student publication, also won awards at the ICPA convention. Brandon Stewart ‘08, who also made the trip, won third place in the Best News Story section of the News Magazines section for, "Morality of Education." In the Best Opinion Column, Josh Harris took first place for, "Cut the Hype: The Patriot Act and You," and Royce Gregerson ’09 won third place for, "On the Religion of Intellectualism." The magazine as a whole won second place in the Best Cover Design category for the issue "One Nation."