The Signal ranks top three in the nation for digital college newspaper
UHCL’s student-published newspaper, The Signal, has been named as a Crown Award Finalist by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) for Best in College Digital News in the nation.
The Signal is a top-three contender in the category of College Digital Newspaper. The other two finalists are The Hub from Texas Tech and The Connector from SCAD Atlanta. All three finalists are assured of winning either a Gold Crown or Silver Crown; the awards will be announced and presented at the CSPA ceremony in March 2016.
“I am extremely pleased that Taleen and her staff have brought this honor to UHCL,” said Darlene Biggers, associate vice president for student services. “They always strive for excellence and this award shows that they have achieved it! I am so proud of all the staff.”
The CSPA Crown Awards is an annual national competition for overall excellence in student publications. The collegiate competition is operated out of Columbia University in New York. Nominees are judged on criteria including design, photography, concept, coverage and writing.
“We have never won in the category of ‘best overall’ newspaper at the national level before,” said Taleen Washington, director of student publications. “I am so proud of our students. This is quite an accomplishment for a student publication that only went completely digital last year, especially when you consider that our student staff consists of communication majors enrolled in the Media Production class and rotates in/out every semester.”
The Signal won 36 awards individual and overall state and national awards for work published in 2014-2015.
The newspaper went digital, and weekly, in fall 2014 when UHCL became a four-year university. This includes entries entered in competitions such as Texas Intercollegiate Press Association, Associated Collegiate Press and CSPA.
“In addition to our talented student editors and staff, I’d like to give credit to Lindsay Humphrey, student publication specialist II, who spent a lot of time and effort finding student-friendly applications and software to help make our website more dynamic and interactive,” Washington said.
The editorial staff during this time was comprised of Tiffany Fitzpatrick, editor-in-chief, Sam Savell, managing editor, and Liz Davis, online editor.
“The transition from print to web presented us with many challenges in how we could utilize our online presence,” Savell said. “During the planning of the transition, we wanted to focus on making The Signal more interactive and enjoyable for our readers.”
Washington, Humphrey and current Editor-in-Chief Liz Davis will all attend the Collegiate Crown Awards ceremony during the College Media Convention in March 2016.
“Even if we don’t win the Gold Medal in March, we’re assured of winning a Silver Medal,” Washington said. “As far as I’m concerned, being named one of the top three collegiate digital newspapers in the nation by an organization as esteemed as Columbia Press Scholastic Association is a huge victory. We’ve already won.”
