About The Orion

The Orion(opens in new window) is a digital-daily and print-weekly news organization that is run by students and operates independently from J&PR.

The Orion offers students the opportunity to improve newsgathering, editing and leadership skills in the setting of a fully operational, independent newspaper.

The Orion is perhaps the most honored college newspaper in the country. So honored, in fact, that it was named to the Associated Collegiate Press Hall of Fame in 2005 for being a winner of or finalist for the coveted Pacemaker Award some 22 times since 1988.

The Orion continues to win numerous national and regional awards, including the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Award and the National Newspaper Association General Excellence Award.

The Orion was founded in 1975. Its predecessor, The Wildcat, was founded in 1926 and was published for 50 years. 

The Orion(opens in new window) has one of the oldest online college news sites in the country and was first published on the Web in 1994. It features breaking news and Web-only and multiplatform content, in addition to updates of stories and content from the weekly print edition of The Orion.

Former Orionites work for a range of prestigious news organizations, including the San Francisco Chronicle, The Sacramento Bee, Las Vegas Review-Journal, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, Politico and GeekWire, to name-drop a few.

Want to be part of The Orion?

Check out FAQs about The O or contact department chair Janell Bauer.