IDS awarded 'best all-around daily student newspaper'

The Indiana Daily Student was named the 2005 "Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper" by the Society of Professional Journalists at the SPJ Convention and National Journalism Conference held Aug. 24-27 in Chicago. \n"To win a national award for excellence three times in six years is really special," said Dave Adams, director of student media at IU. \nThe award was one of many in the SPJ's annual national Mark of Excellence competitions. After winning the SPJ's regional competition, the IDS went up against the 11 other regional winners before being named "Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper."\n"The SPJ randomly selects five dates throughout the year, and newspapers must send in the paper that corresponds with that day," Adams said. Newspapers are assessed based on overall content of news stories, feature stories, photography and design. Consistency, depth and breadth of the stories are also critiqued. \n"I was really proud of that year," said IDS fall 2005 Editor in Chief Adam Aasen. "We had a really good staff, and everyone worked really hard and had a great attitude." \nIndividual writers and photographers were also considered in the competition. Two IDS photographers, Yossi May and Aaron Bernstein, were recognized at the convention for their work. May was the national winner in sports photography for his photo "Little 500 crash." Bernstein was a national finalist in breaking news photography for "Evansville Tornado." Additionally, IDS staffer Mike Malik was selected to work on "The Working Press," the daily paper put out by the convention. \nThe SPJ is the largest professional organization of journalists in the country. It has a local chapter in Bloomington, open to students interested in future media careers in print, broadcast and online news. \n"We do the newspaper for the readers, but it's always great to get some awards," Aasen said. "It's nice to know that people outside of IU think we are doing a good job"