More than a hundred students and advisers from across Indiana gathered Saturday, April 6 for the annual Indiana Collegiate Press Association conference and awards lunch in IU-Bloomington's Indiana Memorial Union.
This year's speakers included Tim Evans, IndyStar investigations editor; Cheryl Owsley Jackson, IU Media School senior visiting professor; Adam Wren, Politico national politics reporter; Jill Bond, Bloomington Herald-Times editor and Saul Lemerond, Hanover College assistant professor.
There were more than 800 entries in the 2024 ICPA contest from Indiana student media organizations. Media professionals from across the country served as judges and students receiving honors were recognized at the awards lunch in the IMU Tudor Room. IU Student Media received five of ICPA's top overall awards:
• Website of the Year, idsnews.com
• Division I Newspaper of the Year, Indiana Daily Student
• Yearbook of the Year, Arbutus
• Advertising Publication of the Year, Indiana Daily Student
• Brook Baker Indiana Collegiate Press Association Journalist of the Year, Marissa Meador
Marissa Meador, the Brook Baker recipient, is the Indiana Daily Student's faculty and administration beat reporter. The IU junior was previously a managing editor and will serve as co-editor-in-chief with junior Jacob Spudich during the fall 2024 semester.
The Brook Baker Award was established in 1999 in remembrance of the late campus editor of The Trailblazer at Vincennes University. Baker was a renaissance journalist who was primarily interested in investigative reporting. This award from ICPA honors her memory and recognizes excellence in collegiate journalism in Indiana.
The judge said of Meador's reporting: "Marissa Meador’s work showcases her ability to move with seeming ease across difficult topics as well as the ability to report and write lighter features. Her clear empathy for her subjects makes her stories highly readable. And she brings to her work an advanced skill to structure a long-form story. All-around terrific work."
There were four Brook Baker nominees this year from Butler University, Goshen College, Valparaiso University and IU. Indiana Daily Student staffers have received the honor 16 times since 2003 including for the last seven years straight.
IU Student Media staffers received another 57 individual awards for reporting, photography, design, advertising and multimedia categories.
"Our students have a long history of producing outstanding work," Newsroom Adviser Ruth Witmer said. "The students are totally committed to their role as storytellers and public servants and it's great to see them receive recognition for their extraordinary effort."
For a complete list of 2024 ICPA award recipients, visit https://tinyurl.com/3rvan5j4.
