Newhouse students, projects take professional-level honors at Excellence-in-Features awards

Newhouse students and projects picked up four honors in this year’s Excellence-in-Features Awards from the Society for Features Journalism. This showing is impressive in part because this is a professional-only contest with no separate college or student categories. The judge’s comments are included below, which you’ll see also speak volumes to our students’ talents. Congratulations, all!

Features Series or Project

2nd Place
Staff, The NewsHouse
“COVID on Campus: Coronavirus dominates fall semester, but does not destroy it
Judge’s comments:
Even though this series was inspired by a Washington Post feature, it’s still an extremely innovative piece of journalism. The stories offer a sense of community, and the vignettes are perfect, allowing strong voices to shine. The subjects are diverse and have interesting tales to tell. And we love, love, love the illustrations by Samantha Currier. This series will help students remember what they—and all of us—lived through in 2020

Sports Feature

2nd Place
Madeleine Davison, The 61% Project, “How Sports Culture Undermines Athletes Long After They Graduate – The 61% Project
Judge’s comments: This story showcases solid reporting, clean writing and great design.

Integrated Storytelling

3rd Place
Staff, The NewsHouse, “High Stakes
Judge’s comments: The reporting encapsulates the topic as a whole, and the social-media elements are especially fascinating. So much so that we bet many readers found the stories through social media. This is an all-around success.

Diversity in Digital Features

Honorable mention
Olivia Zimmerman, The 61% Project, “My Dorm Room Was a Place That Gave Me Anxiety – The 61% Project