Newhouse Alumna Nicole Aponte ’24 Wins Prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award
Aponte is the first Murrow winner at the Newhouse School since 2021.
Newhouse School alumna Nicole Aponte ’24 was honored with a prestigious 2024 Edward R. Murrow Award for her 2023 story “Beating the Odds, Taking the Reins.” Aponte won Best Video Feature Reporting in the Student category for the story—completed during her senior year in the broadcast and digital journalism program—which highlights a rider on the Special Olympics equestrian team.
Aponte is the first Murrow Award winner at the Newhouse School since 2021.
This is not Aponte’s first brush with prestigious awards, as she was honored with a Hearst National Championship Award last year, winning second place in the National Television Championship category for a story about artificial intelligence’s impact on society.
The Edward R. Murrow Awards are presented by the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), which is a global professional organization devoted solely to broadcast and digital journalism. The Murrow Awards recognize local and national news stories that, according to the RTDNA website, “uphold the RTDNA Code of Ethics, demonstrate technical expertise and exemplify the importance and impact of journalism as a service to the community.”
All winners will be honored at the Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala on Oct. 14 in New York City.
Newhouse Student Awards Summer 2024 Roundup
Learn more about accolades received this summer by students from across Newhouse.
Edward R. Murrow Awards
Nicole Aponte ’24 was honored with a prestigious 2024 Edward R. Murrow Award for her story “Beating the Odds, Taking the Reigns.” Aponte won Best Video Feature Reporting in the Student category for the story, which highlights a rider on the Special Olympics equestrian team. All winners will be honored at the Edward R. Murrow Awards Gala on Oct. 14 in New York City.
2024 Edward R. Murrow Award National Winners
National Association of Black Journalists
April Santana ’24 and Wendy Wang ’23 were honored for their work by the National Association of Black Journalists’ 2024 Salute to Excellence Awards.
Digital Media (Undergraduate): Online News Reporting: “Poisoned in Syracuse” by April Santana (Infodemic project)
Television (Undergraduate): Feature: Short Form: “Dandelion” by Wendy Wang (The NewsHouse)
Associated Collegiate Press
Newhouse School students took home seven honors—including a pair of First Place awards by Max Williams—in the spring 2024 Associated Collegiate Press’ Clips & Clicks contest.
Newhouse Students Honored at ACP Clips & Clicks Contest
New York State Society of CPAs
Magazine, news and digital journalism senior Alejandro Rosales was honored with a 2024 Excellence in Financial Journalism Award by the New York State Society of CPAs for his NewsHouse story “Phone Scammers Wreak Havoc on Americans and their Wallets.”
NYSSCPA Announces the 2024 Excellence in Financial Journalism Award Winners
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
Student fashion magazine Zipped won the Design category at the AEJMC 2024 Student Magazine Contest.
Cannes Future Lions
Newhouse School creative advertising students Marlana Bianchi ’24 and Molly Egan ’25 won the prestigious Future Lions Grand Prix Award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France.
They earned the honor for their “Break the Sound Barrier” entry that addressed a brief, or assignment, from Spotify that asked how the music-streaming service could “spread positivity by using technology to bring listeners closer to the creators and communities they love.” The work was done in an upper-level portfolio course taught by professor of practice Mel White.
Newhouse Creative Advertising Students Win Cannes Future Lions Grand Prix Award
Society of Professional Journalists
Newhouse students claimed two national wins and four finalist spots in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence, one of the top college media contests every year.
Newhouse Students Claim 2 National Wins at SPJ Mark of Excellence Contest
New York State Broadcasters Association
Newhouse School students won big at this year’s New York State Broadcaster Association’s Excellence in Broadcasting Awards, bringing home nine out of the 16 honors in the College Television division. They will be honored at an awards luncheon on Sept. 25 in Syracuse.
Newhouse Students Dominate 2024 NYSBA Excellence in Broadcasting Awards
Telly Awards
Newhouse students and projects picked up 10 honors for this year’s Telly Awards, which recognize the best in television and video awards among professionals and students. Their award-wining work was produced through a variety of Newhouse School outlets, courses and extracurricular opportunities.
Newhouse Students Victorious at 2024 Telly Awards
Newhouse Students Honored at ACP Clips & Clicks Contest
Newhouse School students took home seven awards—including a pair of First Place honors by Max Williams—in the spring 2024 Associated Collegiate Press’ Clips & Clicks contest. With 11 winners in the fall and spring contests, The NewsHouse, a Newhouse student-run news, sports and entertainment outlet, finished fourth nationally among all the publications in 2024.
Broadcast News, First Place – “Child poverty rate in Syracuse remains high” by Maxwell Joseph Williams (NCC News)
Broadcast Feature, First Place – “Central New York Drive-In Opens for First Time in 40 Years” by Maxwell Joseph Williams (NCC News)
Photojournalism – News, Second Place – “Calls to unionize” by Surya Vaidy (The NewsHouse)
Photojournalism – Features, Fourth Place – “Head Thief” by Rio Harper (The NewsHouse)
Writing – Feature Story, Second Place – “How Gen Z became the face of skincare marketing” by Jenny DeStefano (The NewsHouse)
Writing – Sports Story, Second Place – “A perfect March Madness bracket has never happened — and it never will” by Wally McKeon (The NewsHouse)
Writing – Sports Story, Honorable Mention – “Para athlete aims to build foundation for others” by Cole Bambini (The NewsHouse)
Newhouse Students Victorious at 2024 Telly Awards
Newhouse students and projects picked up 10 honors for this year’s Telly Awards, which recognize the best in television and video awards among professionals and students. Their award-wining work was produced through a variety of Newhouse School outlets, courses and extracurricular opportunities.
Silver, Student Television: “Syracuse Reacts to Controversial Speaker” by Nicole Aponte (CitrusTV)
Silver, Non-Broadcast Student: “Full Circle” by Murphy McFarlane (The NewsHouse/Fall Workshop)
Silver, Non-Broadcast Student: “Primavera Negra” by Jorge Rosales (Military Program/Newhouse School)
Bronze, Non-Broadcast Student: “Syra-Cruz” by Will Birks (44 Films/Sports Media Center)
Bronze, Student – Online: “Loud & Clear featuring Luna & The Carpets” by Abigail Weber (OTN)
Bronze, Student – Television: “On the Bench” – April 11, 2023 by Cameron Ezeir, Nick Zelaya, Ryan Bridges and Nick Luttrell (CitrusTV)
Bronze, Student – Television: “Market Shares” – Nov. 10, 2023 by Peter Elliott, Bradley Hoppenstein, Jake Morel, Sean Dempsey, Marguerite Bellotti and Dillon Brendle (CitrusTV)
Bronze, Non-Broadcast Student: “The Hunter” by Tim Rose, James McConnell, Daisy Leepson and Kenneth Barrist (OTN)
Bronze, Non-Broadcast Student: “Burn The Flower” by Peipei Liu, Lydia Tan, Yilong Xu, Binhao Ma, Haotong Qin and Tao Wang (OTN)
Bronze, Non-Broadcast Student: “Echoes in the Sand” by Miles Isgrig (OTN)
Newhouse Students Dominate 2024 NYSBA Excellence in Broadcasting Awards
Newhouse School students won big at this year’s New York State Broadcaster Association’s Excellence in Broadcasting Awards, bringing home nine out of the 16 honors in the College Television division. They will be honored at an awards luncheon on Sept. 25 in Syracuse.
Outstanding Spot News Story – “Pro-Palestinian Protestors Gather at Syracuse University” by Peyton Spellacy (CitrusTV)
Outstanding Hard News Story – “Child Poverty Rate in Syracuse Remains High” by Max Williams (NCC News)
Outstanding Series or Documentary – “15 For Life” by Ellis Stanton (44 Films/Sports Media Center)
Outstanding Live On-Scene Reporting – Max Williams (CitrusTV)
Outstanding Evening Newscast – “Live At 6” on 2/29/23 (CitrusTV)
Outstanding Weathercast – Max Williams (CitrusTV)
Outstanding Election Coverage – “Election Special 2023” by Benjamin Schiller, Chilekasi Adele, Olivia Maniscalco and Staff (CitrusTV)
Outstanding Digital Platforms – CitrusTV Sports
Outstanding Social Media Personality Syracuse University – Ilana Epstein (CitrusTV)
Newhouse Students Claim 2 National Wins at SPJ Mark of Excellence Contest
Newhouse students claimed two national wins and four finalist spots in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence, one of the top college media contests every year.
Best Independent Online Student Publication, Winner: “Infodemic,” Infodemic Staff
Radio Sports Reporting, Winner: Playing for something bigger,” Jordan Leonard, WAER
Radio In-Depth Reporting, Finalist: “How museums can misrepresent people and cultures,” Charles Sirey, WAER/Infodemic
Best Ongoing Student Magazine, Finalist: Moody Magazine, Moody Staff
Photo Essay/Slideshow, Finalist: “Southside footsteps,” Xinning Li, The NewsHouse
Television Feature Reporting, Finalist: “Miraculous Marathon Meg,” John Perik, CitrusTV
Newhouse Creative Advertising Students Win Cannes Future Lions Grand Prix Award
Newhouse School creative advertising students Marlana Bianchi ’24 and Molly Egan ’25 have won the prestigious Future Lions Grand Prix Award at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France.
They earned the high honor this week for their “Break the Sound Barrier” entry that addressed a brief, or assignment, from Spotify that asked how the music-streaming service could “spread positivity by using technology to bring listeners closer to the creators and communities they love.”
Bianchi, as art director, and Egan, as copywriter, worked on their award-winning entry in the Portfolio III course taught by Mel White, professor of practice of advertising. The assignment challenged students to employ new technology and uplift marginalized communities.
Using insight that music-sharing platforms lack features catering to the deaf community, Bianchi and Egan revealed that music is not an inclusive hobby. Their winning entry would make music streaming on Spotify accessible to the full spectrum of hearing.
“In a world with 7,000 spoken languages and 300 visual sign languages, the one universal language which connects us all is music,” AKQA said in announcing the winners. Future Lions is an annual initiative from AKQA—which describes itself as an ideas and innovation company—that celebrates bold and progressive ideas from students all over the world.
Bianchi and Egan conceived partnering with deaf sign language performers who memorize and dance to beats and lyrics, aiming to engage both deaf and hearing fans. They also plan to use deep fake technology to scale performances into over 300 visual sign languages for each song on the platform, breathing life into music sharing for the deaf community.
“The initiative features deaf performances that can be added to songs by leveraging deep fake technology for social good, making music more accessible for all,” AKQA said.
This year, the company partnered with Spotify and The Wall Street Journal on the Future Lions competition, which is in its 19th year. Spotify and AKQA will collaborate with Bianchi and Egan to bring the idea to life on the Spotify platform.
2024 Newhouse Student Awards Roundup
Latest: Newhouse School students and faculty celebrate banner week at Hearst Journalism Awards. Learn more about accolades received this year by students from across Newhouse.
Newhouse students John Perik ’24 and Ronald Parrillo ’25 captured first-place honors Thursday night in their respective categories at the Hearst Journalism Awards, capping a banner week for Syracuse University at the prestigious competition.
Perik, who graduated last month, took first in the National Television Championship, while Parrillo, a senior, won the National Audio Championship. Broadcast and digital journalism (BDJ) majors Perik and Parrillo are the first Hearst national champions from Newhouse since Eric Wellman ’05 in 2004.
Two more Newhouse students earned distinctions as runners-up at the ceremony in San Francisco: BDJ major Chilekasi Adele in the Television Championship category and Murphy McFarlane, a visual communications major, in the Multimedia Championship category. Both students also graduated in May.
Newhouse School broadcast and digital journalism students and faculty had a little fun Wednesday night celebrating Syracuse University’s first-place finish in the Intercollegiate Audio & Television category at the Hearst Journalism Awards ceremony in San Francisco.
Syracuse also took third overall in the prestigious Intercollegiate Competition, and third in the Intercollegiate Multimedia category. Check out more photos from the June 5 event on our Instagram feed.
Earlier this spring, the final round of the Hearst Journalism Awards monthly competitions netted three Top 20 finishes for Newhouse students in the Investigative Writing and Team Multimedia contests.
- Multimedia Team, 14th Place – “The Class of COVID” by Sydney Bergan, Morgan Calcara, Gracie Carrigan, Isea Kelley, Charlotte Kho, Mykenna Maniece and Katie Scoville
- Multimedia Team, 19th Place, “Scammers target college campuses with phishing emails” by Emily Baird, Natalia Deng Yuan, Nate Harrington, Ryan Stephens and Christopher Scarglato
- Investigative Writing, 17th Place – “The Digital Cybermule” by Zhixiang Wang
Society of News Design
Newhouse students and campus media outlets took home 11 awards including three top prizes in this year’s Society for News Design’s Student Design Contest.
Best-Designed Student Magazine
- First Place: Moody Magazine
- Second Place: Jerk
Best-Designed Student News Website
- Third Place: ZippedMag.net by Zipped magazine
Special Section Design
- First Place: “The Daily Orange 4/20 Guide 2023” by Bridget Overby and Santiago Noblin
Standalone Multimedia
- First Place: “Phone Scammers Wreak Havoc on Americans and Their Wallets” by Emily Baird and Matthew Brodsky (Infodemic)
- Second Place: “Scammers Target College Campuses With Phishing Emails” by Emily Baird, Ryan Stephens, Chris Scarglato, Natalia Deng Yuan (Infodemic)
Digital Storytelling Design
- Second Place: “Infodemic” by Natalia Deng Yuan and Emily Baird
Magazine Cover Design
- Second Place: Moody Magazine’s “Foody” issue by Jennie Bull, Mia Hernandez, Emma Lueders, Emma Barbosa
Art & Illustration Design
- Third Place: “Mom’s Magic Touch” by Jinning Wang (Baked)
- Honorable Mention: “Embracing AI” by Bridget Overby, Flynn Ledoux (The Daily Orange)
- Honorable Mention: “Love is Love” by Samantha Mai Currier (The NewsHouse)
2024 SND Student Design Contest
Syracuse Press Club Awards
Newhouse School students and members of the WAER staff were recognized with 20 honors including eight First Place awards in this year’s Syracuse Press Club Awards.
Newhouse Students and Staff Shine at 2024 Syracuse Press Club Awards
Society of Professional Journalists
Newhouse students had a great showing at the Society of Professional Journalists’ (SPJ) Mark of Excellence Awards with 10 winners and 17 finalists. The winners will advance to compete against other SPJ regional winners for the national Mark of Excellence Awards announced this summer.
Newhouse Students Win 10 SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards
Syracuse University Scholars
Nicole Aponte and Yasmin Nayrouz were among the 12 seniors named as 2024 Syracuse University Scholars, the highest undergraduate honor the University bestows.
2024 Syracuse University Scholars Announced
Hearst
Newhouse School senior Chilekasi Adele took top prize this spring in the Television News competition at the prestigious Hearst Journalism Awards. Adele was among several Newhouse students honored by the Hearst Journalism Awards as the competition announced winners over the past few months.
Newhouse Student Wins First Place at Prestigious Hearst Journalism Awards
White House Correspondent Association Scholarship
Magazine, news and digital journalism sophomore Danielle Blyn is one of 30 students from 16 colleges and universities around the country to be selected for the White House Correspondent Association Scholarship.
2024 Scholarship Winners Announced
Berlin Indie Film Festival
Alexandra Siambekos ’23 won the Best First Time Director, Documentary award in the Berlin Indie Film Festival’s monthly competition. She won for her documentary film “The Keepers of Manari,” which served as Siambekos’s honors thesis while she was a television, radio and film student at Newhouse.
Newhouse Students Honored in Berlin Indie Film Festival, White House Eyes of History Contest
The White House News Photographers Association
Four Newhouse students earned accolades in this year’s Eyes of History contest—sponsored by The White House News Photographers Association—including three wins for broadcast and digital journalism (BDJ) senior Nicole Aponte and a First Place honor for BDJ senior John Perik.
Newhouse Students Honored in Berlin Indie Film Festival, White House Eyes of History Contest
Broadcast Education Association
Newhouse School students and their projects had a phenomenal showing at the 2024 Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Festival of Media Arts with 25 awards, including a Best of Festival honor for the The NewsHouse‘s “Infodemic” reporting project and five First Place wins.
Newhouse Students Win 25 Awards at BEA Festival of Media Arts
Graphic Design USA
Seven Newhouse School students each won an American Graphic Design Award for their design projects at the 60th annual Graphic Design USA (GDUSA) showcase. It was a remarkable showing in a competition with over 8,000 entries.
Newhouse Students Win 7 GDUSA American Graphic Design Awards
Graphis
Newhouse graphic design majors and multimedia, photography and design graduate students won 22 awards across several categories in this year’s design competition.
Silver
Stamps
Alex Ryberg Gonzalez
Nicole Beaudet
Samantha Swiss
Hailey Lawless
Type Design
Darren Cordoviz
Quinn Carletta
Honorable Mentions
Poster
Ally Manziano
Elliot Rosenberg-Rappin
Charlotte Little
Illustration
Ally Manziano
Product Design
Olivia Doe
Stamps
Charlotte Little
Ally Manziano
Amelia Flinchbaugh
Lior Edrich
Elizabeth Vogt
Type Design
Ita Kim
Ethan Rujak
Dean Lourenco
Cayla Israel
Zhengrong Chai
Jonathan Wideman
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
Newhouse students and faculty earned five Gold honors and swept the video/film and advertising categories in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) 2023-2024 VIMFest Contest. The work will be featured at the AEJMC national conference in Philadelphia in August.
Large School (10,000+ ) Schoolwide/Multi-class Media Project, Gold – Infodemic by The Infodemic Staff
Student – Video/Film, Gold – Murphy McFarlane, “Full Circle”
- Silver – Collin Bell, “Bets on a Burning Farm”
- Bronze – Will Birks, Tien Tran, Brett Rood and Jacob Dean, “44 Films: SyraCruz”
- Honorable Mention – L.J. Guerra, Elizabeth Coleman and Justin Dalaba, “Scarification”
- Honorable Mention – Tien Tran, “44 Films: Home”
Student – Advertising, Gold – Brooke Hirsch and Charlotte Shea, “Digital Blackout”
- Silver – Matthew Powers and Jasmine Chin, “Cruelty Rebranded”
- Bronze – Meiling Xiong, “The Necessity in Continuation”
- Honorable Mention – Noah Lourie and Dashawn Austin, “Second Favorite Arch”
- Honorable Mention – Tori Aragi and Kayla Beck, “Avoidable Reality”
Student – Interactive and Motion Design, Gold – Emily Baird, “Metanoia”
Faculty – Advertising, Gold – Milton Santiago and Jason Lozada, “Infodemic Launch Spot”
This post was originally published on April 29, 2024.
Newhouse Students Capture 2 National Championships at Hearst Journalism Awards
Two More Students Finish as Runners-Up at Prestigious Competition
Newhouse students John Perik ’24 and Ronald Parrillo ’25 captured first-place honors Thursday night in their respective categories at the Hearst Journalism Awards, capping a banner week for Syracuse University at the prestigious competition.
Perik, who graduated last month, took first in the National Television Championship, while Parrillo, a senior, won the National Audio Championship. Broadcast and digital journalism (BDJ) majors Perik and Parrillo are the first Hearst national champions from Newhouse since Eric Wellman ’05 in 2004.
Two more Newhouse students earned distinctions as runners-up at the ceremony in San Francisco: BDJ major Chilekasi Adele in the Television Championship category and Murphy McFarlane, a visual communications major, in the Multimedia Championship category. Both students also graduated in May.
Institutional awards were handed out Wednesday, when Newhouse Dean Mark Lodato and several faculty members joined the students to pick up the award for Syracuse University’s first-place finish in the Intercollegiate Audio and Television category. Syracuse also took third overall in the prestigious Intercollegiate Competition, and third in the Intercollegiate Multimedia category.
The Hearst Championships are the culmination of the 2023–24 Journalism Awards Program, which were held in 105 member universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs.
The 29 Championship finalists were selected from 1,315 entries submitted in 14 monthly competitions this academic year. From June 1-6, finalists participated in the National Championship in San Francisco, where they demonstrated their writing, photography, audio, television and multimedia skills in spot assignments. Assignments were chosen by media professionals who judged the finalists’ work throughout the year and at the Championships.
To learn more about the awards program, please visit: http://www.hearstawards.org.
Newhouse Students and Staff Shine at 2024 Syracuse Press Club Awards
Newhouse School students and members of the WAER staff were recognized with 20 honors including eight First Place awards in this year’s Syracuse Press Club Awards.
STUDENT DIVISION
Print/Digital News Story
- First Place: “Experts say governments break law hiding behind nonprofits,” Tyler O’Neill (Infodemic)
- Second Place: “Scammers target college campuses with phishing email,” Ryan Stephens, Christopher Scarglato, Nate Harrington (Infodemic)
Print Digital Features Story
- First Place: “‘The best of us’: Chris Snow’s belief, strength helped him leave an impact wherever he went,” Connor Smith (The Daily Orange)
- Second Place: “Fried food, prancing pigs: Spend a day at the New York State Fair,” Rachel Raposas (The Daily Orange)
- Honorable Mention: “How Gen Z became the face of skincare marketing,” Jenny DeStefano (The NewsHouse)
- Honorable Mention: “Scamming the Scammers,” Abby Presson (Infodemic)
Print Digital Sports Story
- Second Place: “LYONS LEGEND: Jim Boeheim’s hometown of Lyons, New York, celebrated with him in 2003,” Anish Vasudevan (The Daily Orange)
- Honorable Mention: “Conspiracies about Damar Hamlin’s injury find traction,” Cameron McKeon (Infodemic)
- Honorable Mention: “The ending was bizarre, and Jim Boeheim deserved better,” Connor Smith (The Daily Orange)
Television/Video News Story
- First Place: “Zipcar Zooms Out of Syracuse,” John Perik (NCC News)
Television/Video Feature Story
- First Place: “Dandelion,” Wendy Wang (The NewsHouse)
- Second Place: “Kay and Mal,” Collin Bell (The NewsHouse)
- Honorable Mention: “Preaching Pride to the Choir,” Nicole Aponte (NCC News)
Television/Video Sports Story
- First Place: “Local Boxing Gym Gives Hope to Parkinson’s Patients,” Nick Luttrell (NCC News)
Radio/Podcast Story
- Honorable Mention: “Hidden Identity,” Ronnie Parrillo (NCC News)
PROFESSIONAL DIVISION
Radio/Podcast – Spot News
- First Place: “Police have leads in drive-by shooting of 11-year-old honor student,” Scott Willis (WAER)
- Second Place: “Syracuse Diocese to give sex abuse survivors $100 million,” Natasha Senjanovic (WAER)
Radio/Podcast – Sports
- First Place: “Playing for Something Bigger,” Jordan Leonard (WAER)
Radio/Podcast – News Feature or Series
- Honorable Mention: “How museums can misrepresent people and cultures,” Charles Sirey (WAER/Infodemic)
Photography – Feature Photo
- First Place: “Rip the Runway fashion show,” Nicole Hopwood (The NewsHouse)