Student newspaper ranked No. 1 in NJ for second consecutive year

The University's student newspaper, The Rider News, earned nine awards for the 2018-19 academic year, including first place in the General Excellence category for its overall quality from the New Jersey Collegiate Press Association. This is the second consecutive year The Rider News earned first place in General Excellence.

“Receiving all of these awards is an honor and testimony to the hard work that the student editors put in each week to produce the campus newspaper," says senior journalism major Megan Lupo, The Rider News' managing editor.

Six individual New Jersey Collegiate Press Association awards were also awarded to staff members. Freshman journalism major Dylan Manfre took home first place in the Sports Writing category, while senior sports media major Rob Rose earned third place. Rose also claimed second place in both the Online Video and Web Project categories.

Lupo earned first place in Enterprise/Investigative Reporting.

Junior graphic design major Gabriella LaVerdi, sophomore sports media and Spanish major Nicoletta Feldman and sophomore political science major Lauren Minore claimed first place in the Layout and Design category. The paper was the first place winner for its overall website as well.

"For my personal win on my investigative pieces, it’s a reminder of how lucky I am to be at a school where administration and faculty make themselves so accessible to gain insight from," Lupo says. "It's also a reinforcer to stay a fearless journalist, as I venture off to graduate school next fall."

The competition includes other New Jersey institutions such as Rutgers University and Princeton University. 

Journalism major and opinion editor Qur’an Hansford was also a finalist for the Society of Professional Journalists’ Region 1 Mark of Excellence awards for editorial writing. The awards recognize outstanding student journalism at colleges and universities from the East Coast, stretching from Maine to New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

In the past decade alone, The Rider News has earned nearly 50 awards from New Jersey Collegiate Press Association, with multiple wins in the General Excellence category. The paper claimed its most awards in the 2012-13 school year with 12 New Jersey Collegiate Press Association awards and five Society of Professional Journalists’ Region 1 Mark of Excellence awards. 

The Rider News is a weekly, student-run publication. The student staff members are responsible for all aspects of the paper's creation and online and social media presence.