The College Alternative Journalism Awards.

By upholding the traditions of alternative journalism and getting down to the "nitty-gritty truths of how politics affects people," The Graduate Student Advocate at the City University of New York (CUNY) was named the 1996 Campus Alternative Journalism Awards "Best Campus Alternative Publication of the Year." The awards, given by the Campus Alternative Journalism Project, were created to encourage alternative journalism on campus and recognize the contribution of student journalists to free thought in their schools and communities. "We wanted to show folks out there that there is a campus alternative press that is doing good work," said Jeremy Smith, coordinator for the Project. "A lot of these papers labor year after year without ever hearing a thank you or receiving a pat on the back." The Campus Alternative Journalism Project is part of the Center for Campus Organizing, a national organization based in Cambridge, MA, that promotes progressive journalism and political activism within campus publications. It also provides an e-mail network and article exchange.Campus publications that entered had to be published by students for a student or youth community, and have an explicit commitment to political and economic democracy, gender equality, anti-racism and multiculturalism, and the environment. Entrants were asked to submit two issues of their publication produced in the previous academic year.Judges included Mother Jones managing editor Patti Wolter, author and syndicated columnist Norman Solomon, Campus Alternative Journalism Project coordinator Jeremy Smith, and CrossRoads magazine editor Kim Benita Furumoto. Jennifer Maerz, senior editor of UC Santa Cruz's Fish Rap Live!, said that the staff at her paper was "stoked!" at winning the Anti-Sexist Reporting award and honorable mentions in Reporting, Sense of Humor, and Design. "It was great to get recognition for something we have been working really hard on," she explained. Maerz added that although the Fish Rap is recognized by the university, the paper has no ties with the administration, enabling it to have much more leeway than the more mainstream campus papers. The winners include:Best Campus Alternative Publication of the Year: The Graduate Student Advocate (CUNY). Best Alternative Publication of the Year Runners Up: The second place winner is The Drummer at Iowa State University; Honorable Mentions: the University of Chicago Free Press and (sub)Tex of the University of Texas, Austin.Reporting: First Place: The Graduate Student Advocate (CUNY); Honorable Mentions: University of Chicago Free Press; The Drummer (Iowa State University); Fish Rap Live! (University of California Santa Cruz)Sense of Humor:First Place: StonyBrook Press (State University of New York, Stony Brook) Honorable Mention: Fish Rap Live! (University of California Santa Cruz)Anti-Racist Reporting:First Place: The Graduate Student Advocate (CUNY); Honorable Mention: La Lucha (Cornell University)Anti-Sexist Reporting:First Place: Fish Rap Live! (University of California, Santa Cruz) Honorable Mentions: The Gainesville Iguana (Gainesville, FL); University of Chicago Free Press; (sub)Tex (University of Texas, Austin)Opinion Writing:First Place: University of Chicago Free Press; Honorable Mentions: (sub)Tex (University of Texas, Austin); Student Insurgent (University of Oregon, Eugene); The Graduate Student Advocate (CUNY)Hellraising:First Place: Student Insurgent (University of Oregon, Eugene); Honorable Mentions: (sub)Tex (University of Texas, Austin); StonyBrook Press (State University of New York, Stony Brook); The Gainesville IguanaDesign:First Place: The Drummer (Iowa State); Honorable Mentions: The Graduate Student Advocate (CUNY); Naked Singularity (Boston College); Fish Rap Live! (UC Santa Cruz); University of Chicago Free Press