Nine in a Row College Paper Wins National Best of Show Awards

Winning is nothing new for the Seward County Community College/Area Technical School newspaper, Crusader. Even so, excellence is never old news.

Crusader staff brought home another “Best of Show” award Nov. 2 after competition at the National Collegiate Media Convention in Philadelphia. The newspaper earned a seventh-place win in the two-year broadsheet category. Its sister publication, Telolith, earned fifth place in the literary magazine category for both two- and four-year colleges.

Journalism instructor Anita Reed said numbers don’t begin to tell the whole story.

“Seventh place means you’re in the top five percent, nationwide,” she told students. No matter how many publications compete, the Associated Collegiate Press ranks only the top five percent: That means Crusader outperformed nearly 150 newspapers published by two-year colleges nationwide, many of which are significantly larger than SCCC/ATS.

What’s more, Reed said, “the win continues a nine-year streak in which Crusader staffs have achieved the incredible feat of earning Best of Show Awards at every national convention since 2006.”

Beyond the nine-year-in-a-row streak, for 13 of the past 14 years, Crusader staffs have placed nationally with either Associated Collegiate Press Best of Show Awards or prestigious ACP Pacemaker Finalist/Pacemaker Awards.

“I hope people don’t just think, ‘Oh, ho-hum, another Crusader win,’” Reed said. “It takes so much work and dedication for these students to maintain a level of national excellence, and I am super proud of this 2014 staff for continuing the winning tradition for SCCC.”

Crusader staffers attended the Philadelphia National Collegiate Media Convention, which featured sessions with professional journalists and industry leaders. Students made time to visit historical sites and the Philadelphia Art Museum with its famous “Rocky” statue. They also attended the opening-night NBA matchup between the 76ers and the Miami Heat.

“As we explored the deep roots of American journalism in a city where Benjamin Franklin started his own little newspaper, the Crusader staff absorbed both the philosophical foundations and cutting edge trends in American journalism,” Reed reflected. “All-in-all, it’s been an impressive run for Seward County Community College.”