PHOTO: The Signal won the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's Silver Crown Award for the 2017-2018 school year. Photo by The Signal Editor-in-Chief Brandon Peña. — The Signal won the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's Silver Crown Award for the 2017-2018 school year. Photo by The Signal Editor-in-Chief Brandon Peña.

The Signal earns national and state recognitions for 2017-2018 school year

By Brandon Ruiz-Peña Last updated Apr 10, 2019 241 0

For the second time in three years, The Signal, the University of Houston-Clear Lake’s student-run newspaper, traveled to New York to receive the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s (CSPA) Silver Crown Award. With no Gold Crown Award handed out this year, The Signal tied with the University of Portland’s student-run newspaper The Beacon in the category of the best collegiate digital newspaper.

The national competition saw only the two college digital newspapers being awarded the honor out of 1,100 publications eligible to be judged for the 2018 school year.

“I’ll be honest, I went to New York with high hopes of winning a gold Crown Award,” said Taleen Washington, director of student publications and senior lecturer in communication. “Now I understand what an incredible feat it is for us to win a silver. We’re competing against student newspapers with a staff of up to 200 students, who are able to publish daily, cover breaking news and sports. The fact that The Signal has now won its second silver Crown Award in three years – not to mention the fact that The Signal tied with University of Portland’s The Beacon for CSPA’s Silver Crown Award, and as there was no Gold Crown awarded this year, The Signal and The Beacon effectively tied as CSPA’s choice for the nation’s top two collegiate digital newspapers – is a huge testimonial to the talent and dedication of our students here at UHCL.”

Additionally, The Signal concluded its award season with 16 wins for individual student work across state and national competitions. Of the six national awards from CSPA, Co-Managing Editor Emily Wolfe won first place in editorial writing for her opinion piece “The discrediting of the press places democracy at risk.”

“Working on the editorial was one of the most rewarding and frustrating things I have done,” Wolfe said. “I would work on it for a bit, and then I would have to do something else because it would make me so emotional and angry. I was, and still am, so passionate about the press and role of journalists and how people perceived them. It was incredibly challenging, but honestly, I loved writing it and I am so thrilled it was recognized by the CSPA.”

Among the 10 awards from the state competition presented by the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA), was first place in the use of data category by former reporter Yesenia Diaz for her interactive infographic “Voter registration grows between 2014-2018.”

“Last year was my first year voting and after all the research I did I felt proud to be a part of such a big movement,” Diaz said. “The difference in the voter registration in 2014 vs 2018 was an amazing turnout, and I am glad I got to bring awareness to this topic. I am so happy to have won such an awesome award!”

Justin Murphy, alumnus and former managing editor, noted he is humbled to receive a TIPA honorable mention award for his editorial regarding UHCL’s Veteran Services Office.

“Working on the editorial was something that had to be done at the time,” Murphy said. “The university was in an odd period where they didn’t necessarily know what exactly to do with veteran services. However, it had gotten to the point where it was just unacceptable for a university with a high population of veterans to hand over the reins of the office to a grad student. Something needed to be done, for lack of better terms, and a lot of people didn’t think the university cared. That’s why I wrote the editorial.”

Of the awards received, the most surprising, given the university’s absence of intercollegiate sports, seems to be the sports-related honors, which include second place in the blog category from TIPA for “Sports Talk.” Murphy shares this award with Joesph Riley, communication major and The Signal reporter.

“I always find it funny when a university with no sports wins awards in sports blogging,” Murphy said.

Earning a second-place award from TIPA for her interactive graphic titled “The most incredible magical creatures and fantastic beasts in the wizarding world,” The Signal reporter Nhu Tran had not believed her work could compete with others in the statewide competition.

“I did not think my work could compete with other students throughout the state, so I am very honored to win second place,” Tran said. “I am grateful that The Signal gave me such a huge opportunity to let me try new things and always challenged me to do my best when I was a part of the Media Production class [in fall 2018].”

With a current staff of around 40 students, The Signal competes with college newspapers with staffs up to 200 students. In October, The Signal earned a perfect score for CSPA’s Medalist Critiques competition with a 1,000 out of 1,000 score for the first time in its 44 year history.

“I enjoyed all of the experiences I endured during my time with The Signal,” Diaz said. “I learned how to work in a group and feed off of each other’s ideas and opinions. We were all in this together and encouraged each other to put out the best pieces we could. I had the best professor and support group to guide me through this awesome experience of being a reporter for UHCL. Go Hawks!”

The Signal staff is comprised of paid student workers, students enrolled in the Media Production course and volunteer students. In addition to working for The Signal, some staff members have also held other student leadership positions at UHCL, such as Murphy who was the 2017-2018 Student Government Association president.

“Being on The Signal staff was the greatest learning experience of my educational career,” Murphy said. “I learned so much about different points of view and about how to do my due diligence in research. Being an editor was really fun too because I was able to help other staff members reach their goals. I think writing for a newspaper is necessary for ALL people because it truly teaches you responsibility for your thought process.”

Check out this year’s awards below:

NATIONAL COMPETITION: Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Gold Circle Awards

1st Place Editorial Writing