Baldwin
Wallace
University's
student
newspaper,
The
Exponent,
under
the
direction
of
Dr.
Brandon
Szuminsky,
assistant
professor
of
communication
studies,
is
winning
recognition
for
excellence
in
student
journalism
again
this
year,
after
undergoing
a
transformation
that
has
seen
the
staff
grow
from
a
handful
of
students
to
about
30
staffers.
This
spring,
the
paper
has
earned
awards
from
both
the
Ohio
News
Media
Association
(OHNMA)
2019
Ohio
Collegiate
Newspaper
&
Best
Website
Awards
and
the
Society
of
Professional
Journalists
(SPJ)
competition.
This
is
the
second
year
of
recognition
from
the
SPJ.
The Exponent placed in four categories in the OHNMA competition: news coverage, in-depth reporting, sports coverage and design. The staff took home first place for news coverage with the judge's commenting, "Absolutely stellar newspapers. Superb mix of stories, photos, writers, layouts. The total package."
In addition, student executive editor Emma Selmon '19 was recognized with a first-place prize for her in-depth reporting on Title IX forums in spring 2018. "I'm excited that we are receiving the recognition we are … it's really cool," said Selmon, who spent hours attending various forums and interviewing people on a challenging topic.
Selmon and The Exponent garnered additional recognition from the SPJ in a four-state region (Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia). The paper was a finalist for Best All-Around Newspaper against much larger schools. The other finalist was The Ohio State University, and the winner was Ohio University.
"According to the judges, our newspaper is just as good as Ohio State's and right behind OU, while also being better than every other college in four states," said Szuminsky.
Selmon won the SPJ's breaking news category for her Title IX reporting, and Amber Bills '19 was a finalist for her work on BW's zoning application for the proposed new math, computer science and engineering building.
"It's a great way to get some external validation for the work our students are doing day in and day out. When professionals in Ohio look at the work we've done and judge it to be the best in the entire state of Ohio, that's a pretty good vote of confidence," said Szuminsky, who credits the entire staff for the awards.
With The Exponent thriving as an award-winning learning laboratory, BW recently launched a new minor in convergent journalism, "built around honing transferable skills in interviewing, writing, social media, design, and social media production for today's media … as a complement to a wide range of majors."
