Bucks County Community College’s own student-run newspaper won 18 awards in the Keystone’s Media journalism contest this year, despite the challenges of the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought to students.
Tony Rogers, the journalism professor at Bucks, and the faculty advisor to the Centurion exclaims that “we’ve won more than 160 awards since 2010. this makes the Centurion one of the most awarded student newspapers in the state. That’s a testament to the hard work and dedication of the students who run the paper.”
Rogers says he “provides advice to the students who are running the paper and pitch in and help where needed. But I try not to get too involved because I believe a student-run paper should be just that – a paper run by the students.”
Students have prevailed throughout these challenging times. Rogers adds that “students put in all the hard work to do really good journalism and kept publishing the paper even during the toughest parts of the pandemic.”
Upon asking how news writing has been different since coming back from COVID, and how are students prevailing this year, Rogers states that “I’m happy to report that the journalism students and those who work on the Centurion have met that challenge.”
Rogers continued, saying “During the darkest days of the pandemic, students were working from home, writing stories and laying out the paper on their laptops, and communicating via zoom. That was very hard, but even during that time that the students continued to publish the paper.”
“Instead of printing it and distributing it around campus, they produced a PDF that was emailed to all students and faculty. Now that we are coming out of the pandemic we’ve resumed printing the paper this semester and while that involves a lot of extra work, the students are up to the challenge. Under the leadership of editor-in-chief Max Mower, they are doing a great job this year.”
Printing has resumed this semester. Rogers adds on that “I think it’s a great thing because it does increase the visibility of the paper and potentially the size of our audience. Lots of people mistakenly believe that the era of printed newspapers is dead, but that’s simply not true.”
Rogers added that “Thousands of newspapers continue to produce print products across the country because print journalism still makes money. As long as that’s the case we will continue to print the Centurion, because by doing so, it enables the students to obtain skills that might lead them to get jobs in layout and design.”.
Rogers ends by sharing that the rewards for journalism students “validates the hard work they put in, and gives them a sense of satisfaction and something very meaningful to put on their resumes. Winning an award in a statewide journalism contest is something that can actually help a college student land a job.”
Keep up the great work!
The Centurion website is located at www.bucks-news.com
The Bucks journalism program website is at www.bucks.edu/journalism
For more information contact Rogers at [email protected]
Here is the list of the Centurion winners:
General News, First Place ‐ The Centurion: “Overturning of Roe v. Wade Leaves Many Bucks County Women Feeling Betrayed – Karolina Matyka
General News, Second Place ‐ The Centurion A Chaotic Tradition: Pastor Aden Revisits Bucks – Skylar Woodford
General News, Honorable Mention ‐ The Centurion Pennsylvania Election Results Debunk Red Wave Narrative – Grace Levy
Ongoing News Coverage, First Place ‐ The Centurion Bucks builds back post‐pandemic – Lucas Darling, James Bonnell, Judith Russo, Colin Riccardi
Ongoing News Coverage, Second Place ‐ The Centurion Election 2022 – Grace Levy, Christian Grosso, Evan Anderson, Jenna Lowenthal
Public Service/Enterprise Package, First Place ‐ The Centurion Bucks builds back post‐pandemic – Lucas Darling, Timothy Hubing
Feature Story, First Place ‐ The Centurion From Four Lanes to the Hotel: Inside the Langhorne Borough’s Eatery – James Bonnell
Feature Story, Second Place ‐ The Centurion Bucks Professor Rebuilds her Lambertville Home After Worst Flash Flood in Town’s History – Hannah Boscola
Feature Story, Honorable Mention ‐ The Centurion Bucks Students Feel Pressures of Balancing School and Work – Hannah Boscola
Personality Profile, First Place ‐ The Centurion A Musical Journey in Allegro – Judith Russo
Personality Profile, Honorable Mention ‐ The Centurion Sawdust, Skateboards and Passion: A Sloan Palder Story – James Bonnell
Sports Story, First Place ‐ The Centurion Bucks Men’s Soccer Team Are ESAC Champions – Evan Anderson
Sports Story, Second Place ‐ The Centurion Phillies’ Cinderella Run Falls Short of Storybook Ending – James Bonnell
Sports Story, Honorable Mention ‐ The Centurion “Bucks Baseball Team Has Big Impact in Small College World Series – Mason Gross
Column, Second Place ‐ The Centurion New Policy Banning Over 400 Titles from School Shelves Spikes Outrage in the Community; White Mermaid? Black Mermaid? It’s a Mermaid, People – Timothy Hubing
Layout and Design, First Place ‐ The Centurion Sawdust and Skateboards – Lucas Darling, Carmen Gisondi
Website, First Place ‐ The Centurion website – Lucas Darling, Max Mower
Excellence in Reporting on Diversity‐ Equity, and Inclusion, First Place ‐ The Centurion New Introduction to Queer Studies Course at Bucks; Governor Tom Wolf Bans LGBTQ+ Conversion Therapy in Pennsylvania for Minors; Disability Rights Advocate Haben Girma: “The Biggest Barrier I Face is Ableism” – Parker DeStefano, Grace Levy, Aileen Gorman Leong, Hannah Boscola