May 25, 1998 Contact Barbara McKenna (408) 459-2495; mckenna@cats.ucsc.edu

UC Santa Cruz student media earn top awards in two leading journalism competitions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SANTA CRUZ, CA--Student journalists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, produced some of the best work in the region and country last year, according to two leading journalism associations. The two organizations presented multiple awards to the student- run City on a Hill Press (CHP) and its year-opening supplement, Primer, for work produced in 1997.

The student staff of CHP and Primer earned a whopping nine Gold Circle Awards in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's (CSPA) national contest and received first-place and second-place rankings in the Mark of Excellence contest sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists, Region XI Chapter.

The CSPA Gold Circle Awards competition is sponsored by the Columbia School of Journalism and is the largest and most respected awards competition nationwide for student print media. This year's contest attracted 10,725 entries from colleges, universities, and senior high schools throughout the U.S. (The names of the UCSC winners are listed at the end of this press release.)

The Society of Professional Journalists is the largest professional organization of working journalists in the country. Region XI covers California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii, and the Pacific Islands. In this year's Mark of Excellence contest, Primer won first place as "best all-around" for annual student magazines and CHP won second place as "best all-around" in the non-daily newspaper category. Editors of the award-winning publications were senior Karin Wanless (Primer) and senior Seth Meisels (CHP).

"These are the top professional and educational journalism organizations in the country," said Conn Hallinan, a UCSC lecturer in writing who advises the students at CHP. "We're pretty happy to receive this level of recognition. Since I came to the campus in 1981, the paper has won numerous awards but we've never seen anything like this in terms of the number of awards and their ranking."

CHP is produced weekly as a 28-40-page tabloid. The paper is written and managed entirely by students under guidance from faculty and staff advisors. The student staff is trained through UCSC's journalism program--the only undergraduate journalism program in the UC system. Students in the program graduate with a minor in journalism and a bachelor's degree that may be earned in variety of disciplines.

"I think one reason we do so well in these competitions is because we emphasize critical thinking and reading as well as writing skills," said Roz Spafford, a UCSC lecturer in writing who also advises in the program. "Another reason is that our students don't just learn to write by formula. We advocate that they become expert in an outside field, whether it's economics or art or literature or medicine, and learn to write using historical and social context. In that way I think the students are unique."

Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Circle Awards winners

Seth Meisels "One Language Makes No Sense" Editorial Writing Christine Ayres "Trial of the Vial" Health Feature Justin Freitas Issue of 5/22/97 Cartoons--Humor Eric Jacobson Issue of 6/5/97 Advertising - Full Page Amir Magal Issue of 10/16/97 Page 1 Design - Newsmagazine Amir Magal Issue of 10/23/97 Page 1 Design - Newsmagazine Amir Magal Issue of 10/30/97 Page 1 Design - Newsmagazine Amir Magal Issue of 11/6/97 Page 1 Design - Newsmagazine Lisa Faught "The Belligerent Banana Slugs" Humor (Primer)

Society of Professional Journalists Region XI Mark of Excellence winners Primer: First place "best all-around annual student magazine"; editor, Karin Wanless CHP: Second place "best all-around non-daily newspaper"; editor Seth Meisels

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