This document provides 25 tips for building an award-winning student newspaper. Some key tips include training staff, networking with professionals, using social media and new technologies, taking risks with design and content, entering storytelling and photo contests, and consistently entering the newspaper in competitions to increase chances of winning awards. The overall message is that a combination of strong content, innovation, staff development and actively participating in contests can help a student newspaper gain recognition and establish credibility.

1. 25 Ways to Build an Award-
Winning Newspaper
Rachele Kanigel
San Francisco State University
kanigel@sfsu.edu

2. Why should you care about
awards?
They
•Boost staff morale
•Help you get into college
•Attract staffers to your newspaper
•Help establish your newspaper’s credibility
•May keep critical administrators at bay

3. To win awards you must:
•Put out a great publication
•Innovate
•Be a leader
•Be bold and creative
and …..

4. ENTER CONTESTS!

5. 1. Train your
staff
•Train staffers in all aspects of putting
out the newspaper -- design,
photography, online, writing, reporting,
editing.
•Incorporate team-building and
leadership-development exercises.

6. 2. Network with the pros
• Join professional organizations like SPJ, ACES,
NAHJ, NABJ, IRE, NPPA, local press clubs and
other organizations (many offer membership
discounts and scholarships to students)
• Attend conventions and conferences -- like
this one!
• Invite media professionals to speak to your
class

7. 3. When news breaks
report it
• If you’ve got a website, use it to break
news

9. Knight Errant, Benilde-St. Margaret’s School, St. Louis Park, Minn.

10. 4. Have a conversation
with your readers
Use your website to
•Solicit story ideas
•Poll readers
•Get email addresses
•Find out what’s happening on campus

11. The Kirkwood Call, Kirkwood HS, Kirkwood, Mo.

12. 5. Get social
• Use Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and
Tumblr to connect with readers, ask
questions and report news

13. FHNtoday.com, Francis Howell North HS, St. Charles, Mo.

14. Harbinger Online, Shawnee Mission East HS, Prairie Village, Kan.

15. 6. Beef up your online
edition
• Post Web-exclusive content
• Break news online
• Create photo galleries

17. 7. Make use of new
technology
• Social media
• Live blogging
• Multimedia slide shows
• Video
• Interactive graphics

19. 8. Think about a
redesign
If your paper is looking tired, consider a
new look.
Look at design books, magazines, other
newspapers for inspiration.

21. 9. Take a stand
• Fight -- and write -- for what you
believe in
• Back up a strongly worded opinion
piece with facts
• Make a compelling argument

22. 10. Look for the unusual
Writers, photographers and multimedia
producers should always be on the lookout for
the fresh angle, the unusual story

23. Nathan Lau of San
Francisco State
University won a
College
Photographer of
the Year award for
this unusual
sports action shot

24. 11. Push projects
Go beyond day-to-day coverage with:
• Special projects
• Series
• Special sections
• Enterprise stories

25. 12. Package stories
well
Use:
• Display type
• Graphics
• Sidebars
• A logo
• Info boxes

26. Striking,
innovative
design helped
The Broadview at
Sacred Heart
H.S. in San
Francisco win a
Pacemaker
award in 2012.

27. 13. Explore deeper
issues

28. 14. Photographers: Look for
the moment
• Shoot lots of images
• Look for emotion
• Capture special moments

29. 2012 NSPA Picture of the Year
Winners
First Place:
Lauren
Anderson
Imprints, Mesa
MS, Castle
Rock, Colo.

30. 2012 NSPA Picture of the Year
Winners
First Place,
News
Grace Finley
Hornet,
Bryant HS,
Bryant, Ark.

31. 2012 NSPA Picture of the Year
Winners First Place,
Sports Reaction
Kate Jacobsen
The Northwest
Passage,
Shawnee
Mission
Northwest HS,
Shawnee, Kan.

32. 15. Develop your
talent
Don’t let your best
reporters,photographers, designers,
editorial cartoonists and columnists
settle for being just the best on your
staff.
Urge them to go the extra mile to
become the best in the state -- or the
nation.

33. 16. Dare to be
different
The professional press may not be able
to afford to go out on a limb. You can.

34. Kylie Vandeven of
The View, Park Hill
South HS, Riverside,
Mo., won first place
for Page 1 Design
from NSPA for this
illustrated front page
in 2012.

35. Kelsey Bell of
North Star, Francis
Howell North HS, St.
Charles, Mo., won first
place for news magazine
cover for this page in
2012

36. 17. Pay attention to
ledes
Busy judges often make snap decisions
in the first paragraph of a story.
If your lede doesn’t grab them, they
may not read any further.

37. 18. Sweat the small
stuff
Pay attention to details large and small.
Misspelled words, headlines that don’t
make sense and punctuation errors
can put you in the reject pile before
you can say “Oops!”

38. 19. Review the
competition
Look at previous winners from the
competitions you enter. Read judges’
notes. Analyze what made the winning
pieces succeed.

40. 20. If you’ve got a good
story, tell it
Use personal experiences to craft
compelling narratives.

41. Caitlin Johnson
of Indiana
University won
a Hearst award
for an opinion
piece on her
brother’s
service in Iraq
and Afghanistan

42. 21. Speak to your
audience
• Write about the issues students really care
about.
• Cover your school like a blanket.

43. 22. Plan to
compete
At the beginning of each term obtain or
create a list of the major state and
national competitions and their
deadlines. Write the deadlines on your
calendar.

44. 23. Put someone in charge
of contests
Make sure that a person or committee
announces competitions at least a month
before the deadline. Don't leave this to
the last minute -- postmark deadlines are
usually strict!

45. 24. Hand out your own
awards
Don't wait for the outside world to
give your staff recognition. Honor your
own staff.
And don’t wait for the end of the
term; do it weekly.

46. 25. Enter contests
Remember, if you don’t enter you can’t
win.

47. Contact
Rachele Kanigel
San Francisco State University
kanigel@sfsu.edu