The Peace Times Wins Best of Show

by Laura Shelton

Raleigh, NC (03/03/2022) — The Peace Times earned the Best of Show for Newspaper award at the North Carolina College Media Conference this weekend.

The annual conference is hosted by The North Carolina College Media Association (NCCMA), which aims to support and encourage college media operations. This year's event took place Feb. 26 at UNC-Chapel Hill, in person for the first time since 2020.

Judging is done by professors, media advisors and professional journalists who are recruited by NCCMA. WPU's Peace Times participates in the small campus category, for those with fewer than 6,800 students. Hundreds of entries from colleges statewide compete in each category.

Marti Maguire, assistant professor of Communications and advisor to The Peace Times, attended the conference this year with WPU students. Maguire also judges some of the larger newspapers and yearbook entries.

The Peace Times covers a range of campus issues online and prints one edition each year.

The Best in Show for Newspaper is awarded to publications that exceed excellence in the selection of issues. Excellence includes appearance, balance of content, quality of writing, reporting, photography, design, as well as in-depth reporting.

Several WPU students were recognized with individual awards:

2nd Place for Illustration/Graphic: Michael Wright "A Series of Unfortunate Events"

3rd Place for One- or Two-Page Design: Georges Abi-Aad "Traditions Resume After Year of Disruptions"

Honorable Mention for Feature Writing: Emily Freer "Peace Theatre Returns With 'The Wolves'"

Honorable Mention for Digital Storytelling: Nick Chuisano, Makayla Cook and Tatiana Rivera "Return to (Not Quite) "Normal" Campus"

Honorable Mention for Illustration/Graphic: Heather Spataro "Costumes Should Appreciate, Not Appropriate Other People's Cultures"

"I am beyond grateful and honored to have won 3rd place in the media conference." Said Abi-Aad, who won 3rd Place for his piece. "It never occurred to me that my work on this newspaper would go as far as winning an award, but it's such an amazing feeling being recognized for the work that I enjoyed creating so much."