Thresher named best newspaper by College Media Association

FROM RICE NEWS STAFF REPORTS

Rice University’s student-run newspaper, the Rice Thresher, was named best newspaper at schools with fewer than 5,000 students at the College Media Association’s New York City convention March 18-20.

“At really small schools, the workload is double and the burnout is triple,” the association wrote for its description of the ‘best newspaper (under 5,000 students)’ category. “Oftentimes, the core staff can be counted on one hand. Yet that dedicated handful meets deadline, beats the local competition and accomplishes the impossible with every issue.”

The Apple Award, named because of the convention’s location in the Big Apple, was given for the Nov. 11, 2011, issue of the Thresher, which featured front-page stories about Condoleezza Rice’s lecture at Rice and an interview with Rice Management Company President Allison Thacker about the growth of the university’s endowment.

“We were only allowed one issue for entry, so we spent a lot of time sifting through old issues to find the one that best embodied what we are capable of doing,” said Josh Rutenberg, who was editor-in-chief last semester. “We chose the Nov. 11 issue because we felt it was a solid issue all around. In choosing a paper, we looked primarily for issues with interesting and timely stories, great photos and designs that went a little outside the box.”

Rutenberg said the Thresher faced tough competition. “The newspapers we competed against were all very good,” he said. “I expect we did well in part because we had such a diverse selection of stories in each section, and we had great visuals with almost every story. Judges tend to frown upon student satire, which can be a problem with the Backpage, but instead we received some acclaim for our Backpage in this issue.”

Rutenberg, who is the current news editor, attended the convention with seven other members of the Thresher staff: current editors-in-chief Ryan Gupta and Seth Brown, assistant news editor Ellen Liu, features editor Reed Thornburg, arts and entertainment editor Farrah Madanay, news designer Rachel Marcus and copy editor Johanna Ohm. They and Rice Director of Student Publications Kelley Callaway were among the more than 1,000 college students and 200 advisers at the New York convention.

“The staff has been really excited since we won the award,” Rutenberg said. “They’ve been incredibly hardworking this year, and the award is a testament to that.”

The Thresher representatives attended sessions on how to improve the paper and train the staff. Session topics ranged from writing tips, photography and design to law and social media. “Our keynote speakers were two writers from ‘The Daily Show,’ which was a neat experience,” Rutenberg said.

“We also got our paper critiqued by professors from other schools and met students from other papers,” he said. “Some of the students even got the chance to tour the offices for Rolling Stone and Cosmo magazine. In the evening, we explored Times Square, attended musicals and visited other tourist locations in the nearby area.”

The College Media Association has been helping student media professionals improve their operations since 1954. The organization’s more than 700 members in the United States and Canada represent advisers of collegiate media newspapers, yearbooks, magazines and electronic media.