The Rider News wins best in state for the second year

By Theresa Evans

The Rider News won a number of awards at the annual New Jersey Collegiate Press Association Spring Conference and Awards Luncheon on April 13. 

The Rider News was honored with first place for general excellence after an honorable competition against other four-year institutions including Princeton and Rutgers. This is the second year in a row that The Rider News met this victory; The 

Rider News also took home first place in 2016. 

“I was thrilled to find out we won first place for the second consecutive year,” said Lauren Lavelle, executive editor. “To have such a prestigious organization recognize The Rider News for its constant work and efforts is an amazing accomplishment.”

The Rider News staff won first place for overall website and six staff members took home individual awards. 

Managing editor Megan Lupo won first place in the enterprise and investigative reporting category and design manager Gabriella LaVerdi and features and entertainment editors Lauren Minore and Nicoletta Feldman won first place for layout and design. 

“It was so inspiring to see so many student journalists making profound impacts in their communities from the encouragement of stellar communication faculty,” said Lupo.” “In today’s political conundrum, it gives me hope for our future that we will have a generation of fearless journalists that will have the same mettle that was present during the eras of the 20th century muckrakers and 1970’s investigative reporters.”

In today’s political conundrum, it gives me hope for our future that we will have a generation of fearless journalists that will have the same mettle that was present during the eras of the 20th century muckrakers and 1970s investigative reporters.”
Megan Lupo, managing editor

Sports writer, Dylan Manfre, won first place for sports writing. Sports editor Rob Rose took home second place for web project, second place for online video and third place for sports writing. 

“The staff’s work this year was journalism at its finest,” Lupo said. “I am incredibly proud of our editors. We dealt with a lot of challenges and various campus controversies, and we covered those events and incidents with integrity and merit. In the beginning of the year, I heard various members of the community, saying ‘Who reads the Rider News anyway?’ We used that negative energy and fueled ourselves into showing the university how much we can make a difference. As we are recognized as being number one in the state, I would say we have proved ourselves and that we do get views.”  

Opinion editor Qur’an Hansford is a finalist for the Society of Professional Journalists’ (SPJ) Region 1 mark of excellence awards for editorial writing. 

Institutions from nine states compete in the SPJ’s Region 1 awards. Many categories include finalists from universities such as Harvard and Yale. 

“I’m so proud and honored to lead this staff,” Lavelle said. “They are such a talented group of student journalists who work day in and day out to provide Rider with the most accurate, informative news possible.”

Minore expressed her gratitude for the opportunities that have been presented to her as a new staff member. 

“I feel so humbled to have been recognized in my first year with The Rider News,” Minore said. “Being a part of this staff has been an incredibly rewarding experience in my personal and professional life. My work at The Rider News has already opened many doors in my pursuit of a future career in journalism.”