Chronicle picks up ACP awards

The Associated Collegiate Press handed down three awards last weekend to The Chronicle at its annual National College Media Convention in Nashville, Tenn. The Chronicle sent five staff members to the four-day conference, which brings together hundreds of college newspapers, yearbooks and magazines.

Duke’s independent daily newspaper took fifth place in the Best of Show category for four-year daily tabloids, which honors a single issue from the current academic year. After capturing fourth place at last year’s convention in Dallas, The Chronicle submitted its Nov. 2 edition, which featured a report on the retraction of a report of an on-campus assault, an article about the first Duke graduate to die in the conflict in Iraq and in-depth Election Day coverage.

ACP also named The Chronicle a finalist for its 2004 Pacemaker award, the nation’s top honor for college newspapers.

“The awards reflect the hard work of everyone on staff who contributes to the newspaper each day,” said junior Karen Hauptman, editor of The Chronicle. “We’re proud of the strides our newspaper has made this year, and I hope this recognition inspires us to be even more ambitious with our coverage, reporting, writing and design.”

In honors doled out at Saturday’s award ceremony, current University Editor Kelly Rohrs won third place for Feature Story of the Year. Rohrs, a junior, was recognized for “On Top of Mount Olive?”, in which she probed the working conditions on cucumber farms in eastern North Carolina for the Summer 2003 edition of Towerview, The Chronicle’s monthly magazine.

“It was a great story to tell, but the success of the story was buoyed by all of the people who helped develop it—from beginning to end,” Rohrs said. “The story got so much better working with my editor and the photographer.”

Junior Anthony Cross’s Sept. 19, 2003, photograph of a student sliding on a West Campus quadrangle during Hurricane Isabel landed an honorable mention in the Feature Picture category for Photo Excellence.