The Owl named Newspaper of the Year

The Owl was named Newspaper of the Year Saturday in the Golden Leaf competition sponsored by the Nebraska Collegiate Media Association.

The Owl, the student newspaper of Doane College, dominated the print awards of the competition, winning 25 total awards and seven first-place honors. It marks the second time in the past 11 years that the Owl has been named Newspaper of the Year. 

The awards were presented to college students during a luncheon ceremony at Chadron State College. Other schools that belong to the NCMA and competed in the Golden Leaf Awards were Northeast Community College, Wayne State College, Chadron State, Hastings College, Western Nebraska Community College and Nebraska Wesleyan University. The Golden Leaf Awards honor the best student media work conducted at colleges in Nebraska with an enrollment of less than 5,000 students. 

Among the 25 print awards won by the Owl, the six first-place awards in addition to the Newspaper of the Year were:

• Hard News/Spot News Story: Meghan Kurtz and Cat Krumme
• Investigative/In-Depth Story: The J-Crew
• Feature Story: Meghan Kurtz
• Opinion: The Doane Owl staff
• Feature Photograph: Todd Depue
• Cartoon: Bob Kenny

All told, Doane media won 52 awards, including 15 first-place honors.

DCTV, despite being the only television station led by an adjunct adviser, remarkably earned 12 awards, including five first-place honors. They were:

• Entertainment-Miscellaneous: Ziad Jaber, "20 Minutes Late"
• Entertainment, Music Video: Mike Cochnar and Ziad Jaber, "Spies"
• Newscast: "Doane Weekly, "4/27/09"
• Public Affairs: Joey Klinkacek, Mike Cochnar and Dustin Dales, "Tiger Topics: Healthcare" (Doane College swept the Public Affairs category)
• Videography: Bob Kenny, "Late for Class"

In radio, the KDNE garnered eight awards, including a first-place honor in the Newscast category by Joey Klinkacek for "Newscast 11/23/2009"

The Doaneline finished with seven awards, including first-place honors in the Multimedia category and in News Coverage. The Doaneline finished second in the Website of the Year competition to HC Media Online from Hastings College. 

DCTV also finished second in the TV Station of the Year competition, won by KWSC-TV at Wayne State College. 

Wayne State's KWSC-FM won the Radio Station of the Year award. Doane finished third in that category. 

To read a news story about the awards ceremony, please click here.