The Collegiate, Grand Rapids Community College’s student publication, has been named the 2023 Division 3 College Newspaper of the Year for the Michigan Press Association College Better Newspaper Contest.
The Collegiate has won this award multiple times and and proud to celebrate the 2023 award winners.
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to be a student journalist at a time when public support for journalism is waning,” said Collegiate Adviser Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood. “However, it’s never been more important to have a well-informed public. It sounds dramatic, but our democracy depends on a free press.
“Many thanks to the Michigan Press Association for continuing to recognize and elevate student journalism, and congrats to all The Collegiate winners for their dedicated and award-winning work,” Ackerman-Haywood said.
With 567 entries submitted by 19 Michigan college newspapers, The Collegiate Staff won the following 14 awards:
Best Writer
Second Place, Sophie Deiters
Column- Review or Blog- News
First Place, Mackenzie Davis, “My maple of memories”
Honorable Mention, Brandon Smith, “I stole David Sedaris’s chair at his book signing”
Column- Review or Blog- Sports
Third Place, Pierson VanGorp, “Losing without Dignity: How the postgame scuffle in the Michigan vs MSU game took away from the actual game”
Editorial
First Place, Sophie Deiters, “Editorial: West Michigan needs to take a stand against gun violence”
Third Place, Shane Madden, “Restaurant employees raise delayed, again”
Feature Story
First Place, Anane Badom, “Becoming African American – A personal narrative”
Front Page Design
First Place, Sophie Deiters, Megan Matthews, Alena Visnovsky, Winter 2023 Collegiate Magazine
Investigative Reporting
Second Place, Shane Madden, “Photography students made aware of sudden faculty change”
Honorable Mention, Blace Carpenter, Shane Madden, “Ousted ODEI Director calls out GRRC for ‘scrubbing’ her from website”
Multimedia Reporting
Second Place, Sophie Deiters, “‘It’s changing everybody’ – How social media is impacting students at GRCC”
News Story
Second Place, Brandon Smith, “GRCC Students Report High Satisfaction With Academic Advising, But Getting In Is The Problem”
Original Cartoon-Editorial or Entertainment
Second Place, Abby Haywood for “Trump’s Change of Heart,” “A breath of fresh air” and “A dangerous game of chicken”
Sports News/Features
Third Place, Pierson VanGorp, “Scuffle between GRCC and Glen Oaks Community College basketball teams leads to investigation”
