Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler ,
(818) 677-2130
carmen.chandler@csun.edu

Cal State Northridge Journalism Students Win
25 Society of Professional Journalists Awards

"We are particularly proud of the fact that the students won awards in every one of our media since our goal is to prepare multi-talented students who bring real-world skills to a changing workplace," said Cynthia Z. Rawitch, chair of the university's Department of Journalism.

The SPJ contest, dubbed the Region XI Mark of Excellence Competition, included hundreds of entries from colleges and universities in California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii. The CSUN students formally will receive their awards - for work done in 1998 - at SPJ's Regional Conference on Saturday, April 10 at the Ontario Airport Marriott, Ontario.

The journalism department's student newspaper, The Daily Sundial, earned SPJ's best all-around non-daily (two- to four-days-a-week) newspaper award, in addition to 10 other awards. The Sundial publishes four days a week.

Student reporters and editors of "Valley View," the department's cable television news program, and of Scene magazine earned a total of four awards.

The news operation of the campus-based radio station KCSN-FM earned nine awards in categories including spot news, in-depth, feature and sports reporting. The entire student staff of KCSN News won first place in best daily newscast for its 30-minute "Evening Update."

Overall, CSUN journalism students won 25 awards, including 11 for first place. In doing so, they earned SPJ's "Sweepstakes" award for the most overall points in the competition, unseating their Arizona State University contemporaries for the first time in five years.

"Media and public relations organizations in Southern California know our graduates to be young professionals ready to begin their careers with the tools they need to succeed," Rawitch said. "The SPJ awards reinforce that reputation."

SPJ is the nation's largest and most broad-based journalism organization. Founded in 1909, it has 13,500 members dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism, stimulating high standards of ethic behavior and perpetuating a free press.

CSUN's Department of Journalism serves 420 undergraduate majors and 30 graduate students preparing for careers in newspapers and magazines, radio and television news, photojournalism and public relations.