Rice Thresher honored nationally

By Nicole Zhao     3/29/12 7:00pm

The Rice Thresher has won the College Media Association Apple award for best student newspaper among schools with fewer than 5,000 students.

Eight members of the Thresher editorial board and Director of Student Publications Kelley Callaway accepted the award at the association's spring convention in New York City, which was held from March 18 to 20.

According to former Thresher editor-in-chief Josh Rutenberg, the Thresher has never received a CMA Apple award before.

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CMA announced the top three entries selected for each category on March 9.

"I was incredibly excited that we made the top three. That was enough for me," Callaway said. "I thought that was validation enough, so the Thresher winning was just icing on the cake."

The Thresher entered its Nov. 11, 2011 issue, which featured a front-page story on Condoleezza Rice's visit to Rice, for the competition.

Callaway said the writing and reporting style at the Thresher has always been strong and in the particular issue submitted for award consideration, there was a wide variety of student-centered articles.

"What probably put [the Thresher] over the top is that there is a personality through the Thresher," Callaway noted. "You feel like you know something about the school from the tone of the opinion articles or Backpage material."

The CMA is an organization of student media advisers that aims to help students in college media improve the quality of their operations by offering seminars, workshops, conventions and conferences, according to the CMA's website.

Approximately 1,000 student journalists and 200 advisers attended the spring convention this year to sit in on more than 250 sessions held on various aspects of media, such as design, sports writing, ethics and technology.

According to Callaway, there were more than 300 entries across the 15 categories of Apple awards, named for the location of the spring convention.

"At really small schools, the workload is double, and the burnout is triple," the CMA wrote in its description of the "Best Newspaper (under 5,000 students)" category on its website.

"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 description continued.

Rutenberg, a Lovett College senior, said the award was a confirmation of the staff's efforts.

"It really is a testament to all the hard work we put in this year, and it's a reflection of everything our staff does," he said.

Rutenberg added that the Thresher team had tried to pick an issue with relevant articles and good graphics for the competition.

"[The issue that won] just happened to be one that turned out better than the rest," Rutenberg said.

Current Co-Editor in Chief Ryan Gupta said the Apple award was among the Thresher's most significant honors in recent history.

"It really sets us up to break into the upper echelon of national university newspapers," Gupta, a Baker College junior, said. "This proves that we're a great paper and we're on the brink of being legendary."

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