COCC’s student-run newspaper, The Broadside, honored as best website

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Central Oregon Community College’s student-run newspaper, The Broadside, recently took top honors in the best website category for two-year colleges at the Pacific Northwest Association of Journalism Educators’ annual student contest.

The paper also received two second-place awards, two third-place awards and three honorable mentions in the categories of writing, photography and graphic design. The contest is open to two- and four-year schools in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska.

“An exceptional combination of strong writing, deep sourcing and compelling visuals pushed The Broadside to first place,” said Beth Slovic, president of the PNAJE and a journalism professor at Clark College in Washington, of the website award, the only category that recognizes a publication’s work as a whole. “The students’ achievement with adviser Teresa Ristow is especially noteworthy, given they had to rebuild their program from the ground up just a few years ago.”

Having shuttered in 2018 due to waning student participation and readership, the long-running student paper — first published in 1952 — underwent a series of changes at the recommendation of a COCC task force, relaunching two years ago with a digital-only format and recently receiving approval from college administrators to continue its publishing operations.

Award winners:

Best website, 1st place

News/feature/sports photo, 2nd place, Roman Russell

Portrait photography, 2nd place, Marvin Walder

Photo essay, 3rd place, Marvin Walder

Best use of media storytelling, 3rd place, Marvin Walder

Feature reporting, Honorable mention, Marvin Walder

Photo illustration/graphics, Honorable mention, Miina McCown 

Personality profile, Honorable mention, Ayla Adkins