The Indiana Daily Student was awarded the 2023 Corbin Gwaltney Award for Best All-Around Student Newspaper as part of the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence contest. The IDS staff also received regional MOE honors in addition to separate state awards presented by the SPJ IndyPro Chapter.
National Award
The award recognizes the effort and dedication of student-run newspapers based on two divisions: large and small. The IDS was awarded the Corbin Gwaltney in the large university division.
The two recipients of the Corbin Gwaltney Award are given a monetary recognition of $5,000, provided by The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The award is named after the founder of The Chronicle, who left a legacy of integrity and journalistic recognition after he passed away in 2019. “... he would have been extremely proud to be associated with this award that, in partnership with the Society of Professional Journalists, recognizes outstanding young journalists covering their own campuses," said Pamela Gwaltney, Chair of The Chronicle of Higher Education on SPJ’s website.
The Corbin Gwaltney Award is part of the Mark of Excellence Awards. These are given by the SPJ annually, recognizing student journalists and their talents. Students and organizations compete regionally, winners pass onto the national competition, while finalists do not.
In the national competition, the student-run Indiana University newspaper beat out The Daily Cardinal, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Daily Iowan, University of Iowa for the Best All Around newspaper award.
Regional Awards
The IDS won three categories in the regional competition against Illinois and Kentucky. The IDS won the following:
Corbin Gwaltney Award for Best All-Around Student Newspaper (Large)
Winner: Indiana Daily Student — Staff, Indiana Daily Student, Indiana University
Breaking News Reporting (Large)
Winner: IU denied its room reservation. The Palestine Solidarity Committee hosted its event anyway — by Salome Cloteaux, Marissa Meador, Indiana Daily Student, Indiana University
General News Reporting (Large)
Winner: ‘The church's answer was hurting them’ — by Marissa Meador, Indiana Daily Student, Indiana University
The IDS was also a finalist in the following categories:
Best Affiliated Web Site
Finalist: Indiana Daily Student — Staff, Indiana Daily Student, Indiana University
Sports Writing (Large)
Finalist: The first season — by Marissa Meador, Indiana Daily Student, Indiana University
State-wide Awards
The Indiana Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists awarded the IDS the Student Journalist of the Year this April. It is the sixth time the IDS has won this prestigious award.
The newspaper also won the following state-wide awards:
Student Breaking News Reporting, First Place
“Separate peaceful gatherings over Israel-Palestine conflict end in clash on IU’s campus” Salome Cloteaux, Ruth Cronin and Andrew Miller, IDS
Student Feature Story, First Place
‘Everyone deserves to get clean,” Natalie Fitzgibbons, IDS
Student Investigative Reporting, First Place
Carson TerBush, "Thousands of Native American remains, a legacy of offensive research and the effort to move forward," IDS
Student Best Podcast, First Place
Will Foley, Matt Press, Matt Sebree, "Payoff Podcast," IDS
Student Page One or Cover Design, First Place
Lexi Lindenmayer "IDS P1s," IDS
Student Coverage of Race and Diversity, Second Place
Christy Avery, "IU student pushes for change in viral TikTok video after harassment," IDS
Student Sports Photography, Second Place
Jacob Spudich, "IU Men’s Soccer team knocked out of NCAA tournament," IDS
Student Sports Reporting, Second Place
Will Foley, " ‘A power renewed’: Cinzano's return to the Little 500," IDS
Student Feature Photography, Second Place
Olivia Bianco, "Bruce Copple and Misty," IDS
Student Page One or Cover Design, Second Place
Cailin O’Malley, "IDS P1s," IDS
Student Non-Deadline News, Third Place
Andrew Miller, "What is IU’s Climate Action Plan," IDS
Student Column Writing, Third Place
Dan Flick, “Football columns," IDS
Student Investigative Reporting, Third Place
"‘Catastrophic’: The difficulty of addressing severe car crashes in Bloomington," IDS
