Best Newspaper
Private Colleges & Universities

Winner: The Avion, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ.
Runner-Up: The Reporter, Stetson University
Honorable Mention: The Minaret, University of Tampa

Winner
The Avion–Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
It always amazes us here at Florida Leader how some student newspapers can do so much with so little. If any newspaper in Florida were a prime example of this, it would have to be The Avion at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. What’s impressive about the paper is that it not only comes from a university with no journalism school, but it also comes from a university primarily composed of engineers. Yet it still earned a fourth place Best of Show award at the national ACP/CMA conference in New Orleans for its coverage of Sept. 11.

The Avion soared into first place this year with possibly the best all-around student newspaper out of any we reviewed. The weekly broadsheet with a circulation of 6,000 hasn’t always been as strong as this year, however. Engineering majors with little or no journalism experience frequently led the paper in years past. Avion Advisor Tom Vickers credits much of this year’s success to Editor in Chief Christian Tougas’ dedication to the paper. “He takes it more seriously than the last couple editors,” Vickers says. “He likes to see improvement; he doesn’t just like to say, ‘OK, we did a pretty good job, let’s keep doing it.’”

The staff of 16 editors—all of which are volunteers—demonstrate a firm foundation in good newspaper design. The pages are colorful, clean, and strictly modular in design. What separates The Avion from its competitors is its excellent use of graphics and icons. Stories are packaged well with special attention to visual appeal, and photos are crisp and well-composed. The paper also does an excellent job covering the essentials of news, sports, and student life with a balanced approach to content. “Our advisor told us that, ‘A good newspaper should be viewed as too far left by conservatives, too far right by liberals, and just right by no one,’” says Christian Tougas, editor in chief. “We get letters saying we’re liberal and letters saying we’re conservative, so I think we’re doing a great job.”

Tougas isn’t the only person who feels that The Avion is doing a great job. SGA President Peter Alvarez says that the newspaper and the government have a good working relationship. Tougas and Alvarez meet regularly to discuss university issues and ideas for bettering the community. “The Avion has turned many heads this past year,” Alvarez says. “It’s an excellent resource for our campus and community.”

The most unique aspect of The Avion is its “Aeronautica” section. With several pages of stories specific to the aerospace industry—everything from new technology and job market information to shuttle launches and astronaut profiles—“Aeronautica” caters to the career needs of the ERAU students. “So many of our students are in the aeronautical science program that if we took out [Aeronautica] we would have an uprising on our hands,” Vickers says.

One of the goals The Avion has set for this upcoming year is to win a first place award at the ACP conference. To do that, however, Florida Leader suggests a few enhancements. Copy editing is the paper’s most glaring weakness. Several stories on the front page contained AP and grammar mistakes. Run-on and sentence fragments were the most common problems. The paper should also consider redesigning its “Opinion” page. Right now, it’s top-heavy with text. An editorial cartoon could really add to the page.

Contact The Avion at avionnewspaper@hotmail.com.

Runner-Up
The Reporter–Stetson University
Moving into second place with a solid newspaper despite the fact that the staff is one of the youngest in the paper’s history is the Reporter at Stetson University. Last year, the paper lost several key editors to graduation and filled many of the empty spaces with enthusiastic freshmen and sophomores. Although Advisor Holli Berry says the paper may have suffered a little in the beginning, she emphasizes that the staff has stepped into their roles nicely. “They’re still putting out a paper when they’re supposed to, and they’re learning and having fun while they do it,” she says.

This weekly broadsheet with a circulation of 2,000 does a good job covering the news and events at Stetson. Everything from administration and SG to Greek and campus events are covered with depth and clarity. “The Reporter continues to work to be Stetson University’s central medium of communication,” says Wesley Sun, editor in chief. “To achieve this objective, the paper serves as a source of reliable and meaningful information pertaining to its readers’ lives.” The “Life” section is especially strong with in-depth features and clean photos.  Although the two pages of “Opinions” are well-read by the student body, the design needs to be cleaned up. The large, amateur-looking graphics are too reminiscent of high school publications with poor use of white space and too many pixilated images.

One indicator that the paper is struggling editorially is the amount of corrections run in each issue. Running corrections when they arise is a sign of a healthy newspaper, but when numerous corrections have to be printed in almost every issue, it shows that the staff isn’t doing its job before the paper goes to print.

Contact the Reporter at reporter@stetson.edu.

Honorable mention
The Minaret–University of Tampa
The Minaret at the University of Tampa receives an honorable mention for creating a paper that has a lot of potential. The weekly, non-standard broadsheet has improved tremendously over previous years, but it still has a ways to go. The news coverage is decent—covering a wide range of topics both locally and nationally. However, the absence of in-depth stories—both news and feature—hurts the editorial content significantly.

Although the paper’s design incorporates the fundamentals, the overall feel of the paper is sloppy. The interior pages are often text heavy, and when photos or graphics are used, it’s not to their fullest potential.

The true strengths of The Minaret are its columns. “Ty’s Toons,” “Little Facts,” and “Wacky Websites” all add uniqueness to the paper. The large sports photo and story on the back page of the issue also bring UT’s sports program a little closer to home for the students.

Contact The Minaret at e_minaret@hotmail.com.

Copyright © 2006 Oxendine Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved