The Orion, Chico State Univer-sity's student newspaper, has been named 1998 Newspaper of the Year by the Associated Collegiate Press.
The award was announced Sunday during ACP's 14th annual National College Newspaper Convention in San Francisco. The Orion was honored for general excellence in the "broadsheet" category for four-year colleges and universities.
"With this honor and others in recent years, I think we can argue that the best college newspaper in the nation is produced by the students of Chico State University," said Dave Waddell, The Orion's faculty adviser.
The award was based on the judging of a single issue of competing newspapers published since Aug. 15, 1997. The Orion's entry was its Feb. 11, 1998, edition, which included coverage of Black History Week, parking problems on campus, and a faculty member's donation to the university of an extensive collection of Beatles memorabilia.
The Orion's student leaders for the 1997-98 school year include Managing Editor Matt Notley, Art Director Chaim Blomquist and Business Manager Fred Spotleson.
Notley and Justin Page, Orion editorial design manager, accepted the Newspaper of the Year plaque on behalf of the staff.
The Orion has been named the top college newspaper in California for three straight years by the California Newspaper Publishers Association, beating out such competition as the Stanford Daily.
The Chico State weekly also has been awarded the Associated Collegiate Press' prestigious national Pacemaker award in four of the last five years—a feat equaled by no other college newspaper. The Pacemaker is often referred to as the Pulitzer Prize of college journalism.
David Waddell, Faculty Advisor to the Orion