FERRUM, VA, JUNE 13, 2024 – The American Scholastic Press Association (ASPA) has announced the 2023-24 Scholastic Newspaper Awards, and Ferrum College’s Iron Blade was the recipient of four of the awards given by the ASPA. The college newspaper earned two first-place prizes and two special awards, as well as recognitions from the Student Newspapers Online network.
Two of the ASPA awards are first place (digital edition) with special merit, and first place (print) in the nation among colleges/universities within the same enrollment category as Ferrum College.
“Coming into the school year with only seven on staff, I believe we overachieved any expectations we set on ourselves,” said senior Kyle Markowitz, an editor at the newspaper. “It’s amazing that the American Scholastic Press Association has seen and admired our hard work.”
The other two awards are Most Outstanding College Newspaper and Best Community Service. The Iron Blade was the only newspaper in the nation from a college of any size to win both awards. The Best Community Service award was given for stories covering the community organizations Ferrum Forward and Friends of Ferrum Park. Free copies of The Iron Blade are now distributed to the community at businesses in the village of Ferrum, and members of Ferrum Forward are eager to see it grow as a community newspaper.
“The goal is to make The Iron Blade the News of Choice in the growing Ferrum village,” said David Campbell, faculty advisor for The Iron Blade and assistant professor of English and journalism.
In addition to these awards, three individual staff members earned a recognition from Best of SNO, a website that showcases the best student journalism from the SNO network (Student Newspapers Online). This year 16,583 stories were submitted, and 2,452 of them were published by SNO. Out of 594 schools that submitted a story, 353 had at least one story published.
From Ferrum’s Iron Blade, Sports Editor Cody Gibson had two of his stories published on the SNO website, “Hanging Ten on the Football Field” and “Orchestra Appalachia Takes Off.” Editor Kyle Markowitz also saw two of his stories published, “Kayla Fedison Takes First Place at NCHC Conference” and “Senior LAX Player Calls Ferrum ‘Light at the End of Her Tunnel.’” Franklin Melton’s story “Championship Ambitions On and Off the Mat” was also published in Best of SNO.
“Our staff worked extremely hard to put the college and community’s best foot forward,” stated Markowitz. “We covered anything from campus events and athletics to organizations throughout the village. With our staff being a combination of student-athletes, veteran staff members, commuting students, and first-time journalists, our hard work on campus and in the community paid off. I’m excited for what’s to come with our now nationally recognized paper.”
Staff members are Grace Weaver, Eliza Copes, Darwin Randolph, Kyle Markowitz (editor), Franklin Melton, Scout Lynch, Refentse Maselwa (editor), and Cody Gibson (sports editor).
“I am immensely proud of The Iron Blade, Ferrum College’s student newspaper, for their continued pursuit of excellence in their publications,” said Ferrum College President Dr. Mirta Martin. “Their recent awards not only highlight their exceptional quality but also signify to the world the high standards and dedication of our talented students and their gifted advisor, Dave Campbell.”
In the photograph from left to right: Kyle Markowitz, Coady Gibson, and Franklin Melton pose with their individual writing awards.
