College of Communication & Education, CSU, Chico
The Orion Wins Ninth National Pacemaker; Newspaper Inducted Into Associated Collegiate Press Hall of Fame
Nov. 4, 2005
California State University, Chico’s student newspaper, The Orion,
has again swept top honors at the 2005 National College Media Convention,
while gaining induction into the Associated Collegiate Press Hall of Fame
for its record of achievement.
The Orion won its ninth National Pacemaker award—widely considered the
top prize for general excellence in college journalism—Saturday, Oct.
29, at the 84th annual convention attended by about 2,400 college journalists.
On Sunday, the CSU, Chico paper also won the first-place trophy for Best
of Show for weekly university broadsheets after submitting its Oct. 19,
2005, issue. The sweep of both the Pacemaker and the Best of Show awards
marked a repeat of The Orion’s performance at the 2004 National
College Media Convention in Nashville, Tenn.
The paper’s Hall of Fame induction was in recognition of its nine
National Pacemakers as well as the 15 times it has been a Pacemaker finalist.
The most recent Pacemaker—for work during the 2004-05 academic year—was
The Orion’s third in a row. The Orion also won three straight Pacemakers
in the mid-1990s.
“Winning these big awards never gets old,” said Orion adviser Dave
Waddell. “Taken together, they show that Chico State’s students are
consistently doing great journalism—past with the Hall of Fame, recent
past with the Pacemaker, and currently with the Best of Show. Next year we’ll
be going for an unprecedented fourth straight Pacemaker as the big fall
convention moves to St. Louis.”
This year’s Pacemaker judging was done by journalists from the
Pioneer Press in St. Paul, Minn., and The Associated Press in the Minneapolis-St.
Paul area.
Accepting the weekend awards on behalf of the Orion staff were Managing
Editor Becky Regan of Laguna Niguel and Art Director Ashley Thorpe of
Chico.
“The judges call the Pacemaker the Pulitzer Prize for college newspapers,
but I like to think of it as winning the World Series of college newspapers,
and The Orion swept,” Regan said. “To win Best in Show on top of
that was unexpected and unforgettable. There is not a higher honor.”
Kristina Seward was managing editor and Greg Traverso was art director during
fall semester 2004, while Scott Jason was managing editor and Eric Ball was
art director during spring 2005.
Seward is now education reporter for The Modesto Bee, and Traverso is
a graphic artist for the Alameda Newspaper Group in Pleasanton. Jason,
a part-time reporter for the Chico Enterprise-Record, is finishing his
final semester at CSU, Chico.
In addition to the Pacemaker and Best of Show awards, The Orion has captured
a slew of state, regional and national awards. In October, the Society
of Professional Journalists selected The Orion as the nation’s
best university weekly.
The Orion, founded in 1975, is a student-managed newspaper of Chico State’s
nationally accredited department of journalism.