The Associated Collegiate Press announced Monday that the Daily 49er is one of 30 finalists for the prestigious Newspaper Pacemaker award.
According the the ACP’s website, the finalists were chosen because of their “professionalism, diverse coverage and risk-taking… clean design, engaging photography and creative, accurate headlines.”
The 30 finalists were chosen from a pool of 155 applicants from universities across the country.
Former Editor-in-Chief Greg Diaz said in an email that he’s proud of the work the staff has done.
“That the Daily 49er is a finalist as one of the top student newspapers in the country just highlights the incredible efforts of the student editors, writers, and photographers to serve the students of Cal State Long Beach amid the ever-increasing challenge of trying to do more with less,” he said.
One of the issues which qualified the Daily 49er as a finalist was the special April 25 issue regarding the deportation of José Alvarez.
In February, Alvarez was stopped by a Cal State Long Beach Police Officer about a mile off campus. After running Alvarez’s license, the officer was instructed to hold Alvarez until Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrived.
Shortly after, Alvarez was deported to Tijuana.
The deportation sparked outrage among students, community members, and immigration activists.
In reporting the story of the deportation, the separation of Alvarez from his family, and the movement to return Alvarez to the U.S., then Daily 49er News Editor Ariana Sawyer and then Special Issues Editor Kevin Flores traveled to Tijuana to interview Alvarez and his family.
“The judges said in their statement that the finalists were choses because of their ‘professionalism, diverse coverage, and risk-taking,'” said Barbara Kingsley-Wilson, the content advisor for the Daily 49er. “That’s exactly what the staff did.”
Aside from the Daily 49er, other nominations from California colleges and universities include El Don of Santa Ana College, the Daily Bruin of UCLA, the Occidental Weekly of Occidental College and the Southwestern College Sun of Southwestern College.
The winners of the Pacemaker awards will be announced at the National College Media Convention in Washington D.C. in October.
Congrats to the student’s leaders within the WeAreCSULB coalition that worked day and night to bring this issue to campus. The same coalition that made general order 55 happen.