Four Ithaca College student media organizations recently won awards for the quality of their work.
Student radio stations WICB and VIC Radio and television station ICTV took home a total of six combined awards at the National Student Electronic Media Convention presented by College Broadcasters, Inc. on Oct. 22 in Philadelphia. The Ithaca College student newspaper, “The Ithacan,” won a total of three awards at the Associated Collegiate Press National College Media Convention on Oct. 20–23 in Washington, D.C.
VIC Radio won first place in the Audio Special Broadcast category for last April’s annual 50-Hour Marathon, where four student DJs stayed on air for over two days to raise money for local non-profits. VIC Radio was one of nearly 1,000 entries for the competition.
Production Director Lizzie Freilich ’18, who served as a DJ during the 50-Hour Marathon, said the radio marathon was an amazing experience that benefited Ithaca Underground, a non-profit that fosters an outside-of-mainstream music and art community for all ages.
“We raised a lot of money for a great cause, and to get recognized not only for our hard work but also for the quality of the broadcast is honestly so gratifying,” Freilich said.
WICB took home one award at the convention, placing fourth in the Best Audio Promo category.
ICTV won a total of four awards, including second place in the Best Video Special Broadcast category for “Election Center,” third place in the Best General Entertainment Program category for “Fake Out,” third place in the Best Video Special Broadcast category for “President Tom Rochon Speaks Out,” and fourth place in the Best Video Sportscast category for “Hold That Thought.”
Alex McKeen ’17, the student station manager of ICTV, said that it was an honor to be able to represent ICTV at the awards and recognize everyone’s hard work.
“Although we did not come back with any first place awards, coming back in the top four out of the entire country in our categories just shows the top quality content we're producing here,” McKeen said.
“The Ithacan” took home three awards at the Associated Collegiate Press convention, including a National Pacemaker finalist award; first place Best of Show for its website; and fifth place Best of Show for its print edition.
Editor-in-Chief Kayla Dwyer ’17 said they had recently redesigned their website, so winning the first place award for it encourages them to keep innovating and improving their work.
“Our focus has always been on how to best present stories that matter to our community, and we created this design to reflect that,” Dwyer said.
“The Ithacan” was also recently named a 2016 gold medalist in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's annual college publication critique, and staff writer Max Denning ’18 was awarded the 2015 National Mark of Excellence Award for general news reporting by the Society of Professional Journalists.