The Best of Indy Campus Journalism

Independent Press Association. Posted June 21, 2006.

The Independent Press Association's Campus Journalism Project is pleased to announce the winners of the 2006 Campus Independent Journalism Awards.

These writers and publications are commended for their commitment to intrepid reporting, fearless investigation and critique of power, and giving voice to the voiceless on their campuses and in their communities. Winning writers sussed out nuanced political trends, discovered racist practices among local authorities, and took a hard look at local politicians, activists and programs. They also made sense of the links between campus culture and surrounding communities. All of this was done in the face of increasing scrutiny of college campuses by partisan organizations and often in spite of budget cuts and lack of funding.

This year's awards are made possible by the generous sponsorship of Mother Jones magazine, The Nation, the Columbia Journalism Review, Greg Palast Journalism and Film, Chelsea Green Publishing, and Altar magazine.

The Campus Independent Journalism Awards (CIJA) recognize excellence in socially engaged journalism on college and university campuses. These awards highlight the contributions of student publishers and journalists to free thought within their campus communities.

2006 Campus Independent Journalism Award Winners

Best Independent Campus Publication of the Year with a Budget over $10,000
The Wake
(University of Minnesota)

The Wake is a publication that really lives up to its mission statement, "to cover what matters to our generation." With each well-crafted issue, The Wake covers considerable ground, from national politics to sports to campus culture in a way that's relevant to the campus community. All elements, from the table of contents to the headlines to illustrations work holistically to create a publication that's vital, easy to navigate, always unpredictable and a pleasure to read.

Best Independent Campus Publication of the Year with a Budget under $10,000
The Environmental Leadership Magazine
(Yale University)

True to its mission, this gorgeously designed publication has the feel of a collage created from hand-made paper and found or recycled scraps. Though the design may look rough-hewn, the content is anything but. This small zine features moving essays, solid investigative pieces and compelling editorials on a truly diverse array of topics. Though always firmly grounded in its environmental theme, ELM manages to deliver a blend of voices and topics, making it appealing to a wide swath of campus readers.

Design
The College Hill Independent
(Brown University)

This expertly designed paper consistently surprises with illustrations and cartoons that range from the sartorial to the lushly beautiful to the downright eclectic. The clean, professional-looking layout invites readers into the text. Editors of the paper solicit a large number of students to contribute illustrations, making for an aesthetic that's fresh and yet consistent over various issues. Though the level of artistry is often high, images are never abstracted from the content or mission of the paper. The inventive use of images to wrap the front and back covers, plus the unfailing quality of the cartoons all come together to make the paper a standout in the design category.

Website
The Wake
(University of Minnesota)

This website's clean layout and simple, attractive design make it easy for readers to access its rich menu of blogs, pictures and forums. With an active blog scene, always current content, a rich offering of images and extensive multimedia projects, the website makes excellent use of the possibilities of its medium and adds another dimension to an already excellent publication.

Investigative Reporting
Dartmouth Free Press
(Dartmouth College)
Carlos Mejia
"More Than Misquoted"

Mejia tenaciously probes allegations of journalistic misconduct at Dartmouth's daily newspaper, the Dartmouth, in this bold investigative piece. He evenhandedly lays out a pattern of misquoting, biased headlines, refusals to print letters to the editors containing objections to content and even the insertion of new phrases into other letters selected for print. Mejia's compelling piece is not only well-sourced and important to a local community, it's an implicit argument for the necessity of alternative news sources on college campuses.

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