Student Newspaper Earns First Place with Special Merit in American Scholastic Press Association Competition

Shorter College’s student newspaper, The Periscope, earned a first place with special merit award in the 2006 American Scholastic Press Association competition. The Periscope competed against other publications from colleges and universities across the United States with 1,001 to 1,700 students. Shorter’s entry included newspapers produced during the 2006 calendar year, which spanned two academic years.

The Periscope earned 970 of 1,000 points, with top scores in art, advertising, illustrations, editing and creativity. The “special merit” designation is awarded to a publication that scores more than 900 points and, in the opinion of the judge, is an outstanding overall example of a scholastic publication in format, content and presentation. This is the first year Shorter’s newspaper earned the special merit honor.

“You have an excellent school newspaper, which shows the talents of your editors, reporters, writers, photographers, layout designers and adviser,” the judge wrote on the comment sheets.

This recognition follows a second place award in Layout and Design that The Periscope received from the 2006 Georgia College Press Association competition in February.

Student contributors for the 2006-07 academic year were Carrie Fitzsimmons, editor-in-chief; Meghan Holder, managing editor; John Bailey, opinions editor; Erin Miller, sports editor; Heather Michot, news editor; Hannah Orr, online editor; and Jonathan Howard, entertainment designer.

The staff for the 2005-06 academic year included Christy Cervantes, editor-in-chief; Grant Kersey, managing editor; Carrie Fitzsimmons, features editor; Meghan Holder, opinions editor; Erin Miller, sports editor; and Heather Michot, news editor.

Allison Hattaway, assistant professor of communication, serves as the newspaper’s adviser.

The newspaper is available online at www.theperiscope.org.