Joseph Pelletier of Westport, Mass. earns award at SPJ competition

HAMDEN, CT (05/13/2010)(readMedia)-- Three Quinnipiac University students and the university's student-run newspaper were recently honored by one of the country's largest and most influential journalism organizations.

The Society of Professional Journalists honored the undergraduates at a ceremony in New York for the organization's Region 1 competition, which encompasses college newspapers and student journalists from Pennsylvania to Maine.

Among the winners were:

Matthew Goddard of Kendall Park, N.J., a junior journalism major, earned first place in the television news photography at a four-year college or university category for his story, "East Rock School." By finishing first, his entry will be judged nationally.

Matthew Stucko of Middletown, N.J., a senior journalism major, earned second place in the television sports photography category at a four-year college or university for his story, "Bobcat to Bird."

Joseph Pelletier of Westport, Mass, a junior journalism major, earned second place in the sports writing category at a four-year college or university for his story, "Blood, Sweat and Rugby."

"This raises the bar," said Karin Schwanbeck, Quinnipiac's SPJ campus adviser and assistant professor of journalism in the School of Communications. "It shows the students that if you do good work, you could be rewarded for it."

She said she showed the winning packages to her broadcast journalism classes as examples of good work.

"The awards are good for the students, the journalism program and the university," Schwanbeck said. "It kind of gives us a pat on the back from afar."

The Chronicle, Quinnipiac's student-run newspaper, earned a third-place prize for best all-around, non-daily student newspaper at a four-year college or university.

"To be honored by a national organization, such as the Society of Professional Journalists, is something I'm very proud of," said Andrew Fletcher, editor-in-chief of The Chronicle and a senior journalism major. "We won Student Organization of the Year at Quinnipiac last year, but the fact that people outside of the Quinnipiac community are recognizing us is very special."

The student-run newspaper is also one of 50 finalists, out of 242 entries, selected in the 2010 Associated College Press Online Pacemaker contest. Winners will be announced in October in Louisville, Ky.

"The Chronicle has grown by leaps and bounds over the course of my two years involved with it, and I couldn't be happier," said Fletcher, of New City, N.Y. "General Manager and Publisher Andrew Vazzano put a lot of work into making the website as good as the print edition, and hopefully that will continue next year. The dedication of the newspaper staff certainly did not go unnoticed by me, and I'm thrilled others are now aware of it too."

Quinnipiac is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located 90 minutes north of New York City and two hours from Boston. The university enrolls 5,700 full-time undergraduate and 2,000 graduate students in 52 undergraduate and 20 graduate programs of study in its School of Business, School of Communications, School of Education, School of Health Sciences, School of Law, and College of Arts and Sciences. Quinnipiac ranks among the top 10 universities with master's programs in the Northern region in U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges. The 2009 issue of U.S. News and World Report's America's Best Colleges named Quinnipiac as the top up-and-coming school with master's programs in the North. Quinnipiac also is recognized in Princeton Review's The Best 371 Colleges. For more information, please visit http://www.quinnipiac.edu.