Student-powered news outlets at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY took home 11 awards — including six first-place honors — in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence competition.
The winning entries were revealed April 20 in Boston at SPJ’s annual conference for Region 1, which covers most of the Northeast. First-place winners are eligible for national SPJ honors to be announced in a few weeks.
Among the Newmark J-School winners:
- Dead Wrong, a NYCity News Service investigation detailing shady funeral industry practices, took first place for Investigative Reporting.
- Queens Street Name Stories, a NYCity News Service special report that delves into the tales behind the byways rechristened in honor of some local heroes, notched first place for Best Use of Multimedia.
- South Bronx Businesses Battle Back, a NYCity News Service special report that examines the neighborhood’s return from COVID, won the Retail/Small Business Journalism category.
- Mark Banchereau’s lead picture in Stranded in Senegal led the Breaking News Photography category.
- Sajina Shrestha’s AudioFiles piece Momos as a Form of Resistance headed the Food/Restaurant Journalism category.
- Kimberly Izar’s AudioFile report How Tenants Could Change the Future of NYCHA won for Radio News Reporting. Alex Krales’ Community Activists Call on Gov. Hochul to Sign the Wrongful Conviction Act was a finalist in that category.
- Izar’s AudioFiles piece A Modern Look at a 4,000-Year-Old Game was a finalist for Radio Feature.
- Sonja Anderson and Amaya McDonald’s News Service video The Hair of the Doll was a Feature Videography finalist.
- Naoufal Enhari and Amanda Kari McHugh’s 219West segment Sidelined, about challenges facing street vendors, was a finalist for Television In-Depth Reporting
- The NYCity News Service was a finalist for Best Independent Online Student Publication.
The honors follow recent Newmark J-School victories in journalism competitions run by the Associated Collegiate Press, the College Media Association, and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University.