The Tower named top college newspaper in New Jersey & Ranked Number One for General Excellence
The Tower, Kean University’s independent student news organization, has been awarded the top honor for best college newspaper in New Jersey, public or private, by the NJ Collegiate Press Association. It is a first for Kean University.
“February 2020, The Tower Issue.” by The Tower
“October 2019, The Tower Issue.” by The Tower
Tower reporters and staff also won individual awards in the categories of news writing, feature writing, and overall website.
The NJCPA, whose judges are professional journalists, awarded The Tower the number one prize for “General Excellence” for the 2019-2020 school year. Second place went to The Equinox at Fairleigh Dickinson University and third place was awarded to The Vector at New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Craig Epstein, a senior majoring in Communication/Journalism, is the editor-in-chief of The Tower and is named on the award along with the staff.
“While I am proud to say that I am the Editor-In-Chief of The Tower’s first-ever, first-place ranking for General Excellence in the New Jersey College Newspaper Contest, this accomplishment would have never been possible if not for the hard work and dedication from my entire staff,” Epstein said. “Whether it’s the professors, editors, reporters, or designer, we operate as one big family and together we will look for continued success and to be the best news organization that we possibly can be.”
“Editor-In-Chief Craig Epstein.” Photo courtesy of Craig Epstein
The General Excellence award is based on “coverage, writing quality, copyediting, style and layout in the newspaper.” Judging also takes local appeal, effectiveness, and readability into account, according to NJCPA rules.
In individual contest categories, Lena Zhu, The Tower’s Features editor and a senior majoring in Communication/Journalism, was awarded second place for Biography/Personality Profile judged on the standards of good feature writing, originality, and human interest.
Zhu was recognized for an article about Rwandan Genocide survivor Kizito Kalima and an article spotlighting Kean student David Janes and his work launching a Kean TV soap opera. First and third place awards went to students at The College of New Jersey.
“Features Editor Lena Zhu.” Photo courtesy of Lena Zhu
Siobhan Donaldson, a senior majoring in Communication/Journalism, was given third-place honors in News Writing for two separate articles headlined “STEM academic adviser charges discrimination” and “Five tenure-track professors may lose their jobs.”
“Reporter Siobhan Donaldson.” Photo courtesy of Siobhan Donaldson
The news category looks at coverage of a college-related event, situation or issue that qualifies as hard news and is judged on fairness, thoroughness, local interest, and style.
First place went to a student at Ramapo College and second place went to a student at Princeton University.
The Tower’s website www.kutower.com, was given third place honors and was evaluated on its usefulness to the reader, quality and quantity of content, and ease of navigation and design. Wynter Aiken, a senior majoring in Communication/Journalism, is the online editor named on the award, along with the staff.
“Online Editor Wynter Aiken.” Photo courtesy of Wynter Aiken
The Tower is an academic course in journalism in the School of Communication, Media & Journalism taught by co-advisers Pat Winters Lauro, resident journalism faculty, and Lois DeSocio, adjunct professor. Both worked previously as reporters and editors.
“Over the last five years, The Tower has been named among the top three college newspapers in the state, but we never cracked the top spot until now,” said Lauro. “I am so proud of our editors and staff. This is validation. We are a small program but we know journalism.”
Prof. DeSocio noted that The Tower staff is growing and said that in her five years as co-adviser with Prof. Lauro, enrollment has increased almost three-fold and the class is now so large The Tower no longer holds meetings in the newsroom and now fills a classroom.
“The amount of coordination and commitment that is necessary for 20-plus reporters and editors to produce good journalism, to meet deadlines, and to get it all edited, budgeted, and ready for both online and print is daunting,” DeSocio said. “To be recognized as No. 1 by the NJCPA is a much-deserved accolade for all that hard work. I am over-the-moon and filled to the brim with pride and elation at what The Tower staff has achieved.”
If you wish to read The Tower’s winning issues visit the links: https://issuu.com/thetower/docs/021420_ku_tower_feb_v5 and https://issuu.com/thetower/docs/101919_ku_tower_oct_v5
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