Opinion
Recognition for one's work brings about sense of pride
March 8, 2017
This year at the Wisconsin Newspaper Association annual convention, the Student Voice received four awards in the 2016 Better Newspaper Contest, which honors collegiate and professional newspapers from around Wisconsin.
In the category of editorial writing, the Student Voice editorial staff took home second place for “New gun law proposal heads in the wrong direction” and third place for “No confidence vote for Faculty Senate highlights unease at UWRF.” Each week, the editorial staff sits down to talk about what is on our minds, whether it is a social or campus issue or simply something we would like to highlight.
With each person bringing an idea to the table, the editorial meetings sometimes exceed an hour. This can be seen as good or bad, because although we usually get caught up in great debates, it also means that some of us have to stay in the newsroom late into the night to get our work done. Although our opinions on certain issues may not always be popular, we always try our best to reflect what is on the minds of our peers and give our take on the issue. This is why it means so much to be recognized for our editorial writing.
Two members of the Student Voice staff were also recognized for their outstanding work in journalism. Zach Dwyer, sports page editor for the Student Voice, got third place in the sports reporting category for his article, “UWRF alumnus Ryan Stridde visits campus.” Tori Schneider, former chief photographer who is now doing a photojournalism internship at the Bay City Times in Michigan, received honorable mention in the category of general reporting for her article, “UW-River Falls begins to address issue of gender neutral bathrooms.”
Although I attended the awards ceremony with two of my colleagues from the newspaper, I had the pleasure of walking up to the stage to accept the awards every time the newspaper was called in place of the recipients who could not attend. I can’t describe how honored I felt to not only represent the Student Voice, but to be able to come back to UW-River Falls with our awards in hand to tell everyone the good news and display the awards in the Student Voice newsroom.
I have been involved with the Student Voice for three years now, first as a page editor, then as assistant editor and now as the editor-in-chief, and every year I become more and more proud of the quality of the newspaper and the team behind it. A lot of time and effort goes into producing the paper every week, and sometimes it can feel like a thankless job. But all the work is worth it to not only be recognized by the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, but to simply see people on campus reading the paper.
So while I’d like to thank the Student Voice staff for their hard work and commitment, I would also like to thank our readers for their support in picking up the newspaper every week and staying informed about what is going on at UWRF. I will always be proud of the newspaper and the staff who work on it, and I am excited to see what the rest of 2017 has in store for us.
Natalie Howell is an alumna of UW-River Falls. She was editor of the <em>Student Voice</em> during the 2016-2017 academic year.