Amira Seyoum
Staff Writer

The University of La Verne’s Campus Times this month won its fifth and sixth consecutive gold medal awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association. The awards were for overall publication quality in fall 2003 and spring 2004 semesters.

The Columbia Scholastic Press Association, based at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York, is one of the oldest, largest and most prestigious scholastic journalism associations.
Hundreds of college newspapers from across the nation submit their work for the semi-annual contest.

“Anytime you win an award it makes you feel better about the work you have done,” said Matt Paulson, a senior journalism major, who was editor in chief of the Campus Times in fall 2003.

Though he added: “I don’t need CSPA to tell me I had great staff. I knew that before and after we won.”

“Being recognized again by a national university is always impressive,” said Todd Ruiz, who was editor-in-chief during spring 2004.

“I have to give credit to the tremendous group of people I got to work with who helped make the paper as good as it was,” he added.

The CSPA contest reviews newspapers for all-around content, photography, design and production quality and assigns scores for the various elements, with a total of 1,000 points possible.

The Campus Times received a score of 929 for fall 2003 and 944 for spring 2004.

Along with the contest there is an in-depth critique.

“It’s a real system of feedback,” said Elizabeth Zwerling, adviser of the Campus Times.

“We appreciate the kudos, and we are aware of the improvements that need to be made,” she added.

Since fall 2001 – the year Zwerling took over as adviser – the Campus Times has won this honor every semester.

Each year Zwerling raises the bar for the paper and staff to keep the high quality tradition going, Paulson said.

“My hope and expectation is that we will continue to have such good showings,” Zwerling said.

These results put the Campus Times in the top tier in the nation for college newspapers.

“I think we are in the top third ... and for a small school, that distinction is such an honor,” Paulson said.

Amira Seyoum can be reached at aseyoum@ulv.edu.