The Ithacan won the Columbia Scholastic Press Association's Gold Crown Award on Thursday during College Media Association's Spring National College Media Convention.
"The Crown Awards honor top student publications chosen from CSPA’s members," CSPA said in a news release. "Crowns are selected for overall excellence in a head-to-head comparison. Student publishing in news, magazine, yearbook or digital (online) formats are all eligible. During Crown consideration, publications are judged on their excellence as shown by their design, photography, concept, coverage and writing. A total of 805 publications were eligible for judging."
Editor-in-chief Caitlin Holtzman, assistant design editor Ariana Gonzalez Villarreal and assistant photo editors Kalysta Donaghy-Robinson and Leila Marcillo-Gómez accepted the award on the staff's behalf.
Ithaca College's student-run news organization was one of five winners in the Gold Hybrid News category for its print and digital products and one of 40 publications honored with a CSPA Crown Award.
This marks the first time since the 2014-15 academic year that The Ithacan has won CSPA's Gold Crown Award after winning the Silver Crown Award each of the last six years.
The Ithacan rounded out the Spring National College Media Convention by taking first place for best website (4-year, 3,000-9,999) and honorable mention for best newspaper (4-year, 3,000-9,999) in the Apple Awards competition for "Best in Show" on Saturday.
