Technique Takes Home 9 Awards at Georgia College Press Event
Georgia Tech’s student newspaper recently participated in the Georgia College Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest, coming away with nine awards in as many categories.
The Technique staff earned first place for Best Editorial, second for Layout and Design Excellence, and third for General Excellence, among several other honors.
The awards honor work from January to December of 2016. With a young staff, Technique Editor-in-Chief Vidya Iyer said, they spent some of that time getting up to speed and training new students.
“Considering we have so many fresh people, winning nine awards is a lot, and I’m very proud of our staff,” Iyer said. Some of the awards went to first-time staff members, including third place for Best Photo Series, earned by first-year student Polly Ouellette.
“She’s one of our writers who didn’t have much photo experience, but she went out and did a really good job,” Iyer said.
Some of the goals the Technique has been working toward this year are having a wider variety of content, more robust stories, and multiple sources for each story. They’ve also looked at trying different layout and design techniques.
Iyer, a fourth-year computer science major, said that while the accolades are worth celebrating, the staff looks beyond awards in why they dedicate time to the operation.
“It’s great to win awards, but I don’t think that’s the reason we’re all part of the newspaper,” she said. “It’s nice knowing that we’re doing a good job, but it’s something we do for fun. It’s a great place to meet a diverse group of individuals who are very talented, and it provides a needed break from school. It’s nice to be able to use your creative side to do design, photography, or writing. Everyone should join for that.”
The Technique’s nine GCPA awards for 2016 are:
Individual Awards
- Impact Award: Lanah Marie Jose
- Best Review: 3rd place, Will Finch (‘Sully’ Examines Modern Hero)
- Best News Article (Investigative): 3rd Place, Maura Currie and David Raji (Persistent Failures Plague Woodruff Fire Alarms)
- Best Editorial: 1st Place, Evan Gillon (Advocating for a campus with freedom of expression)
- Best Photo Series: 3rd Place, Polly Ouellette (GTPD Ride-Along, Page 10)
Publication Awards
- Improvement: 3rd Place
- General Photography Excellence: 3rd Place
- Layout and Design Excellence: 2nd Place
- General Excellence: 3rd Place