The Observer won third place in the Division I "Newspaper of the Year" category at the Indiana Collegiate Press Association (ICPA) awards ceremony, held at Indiana University in Bloomington.
Other University publications represented at ICPA were: The Juggler, which won "Best Literary Magazine," Scholastic, which won second place in the "News Magazine of the Year" and The Dome, which won second place in Division I "Yearbook of the Year."
Aside from its overall award, The Observer staff won an additional eight awards, including three first places.
Former Associate News Editor Kaitlynn Riely won first place in the "Best News Feature Story" category for her article profiling identical twins Donna and Diana Defino who supported, and worked for, two opposing Democratic presidential candidates on Capital Hill.
Photo Editor Ian Gavlick took home two individual ICPA awards: first place in the "Best Feature Photo" category for his photo of Irish guard Eric Olsen, used on the Sept. 5 Irish Insider cover, and second place in the "Best Sports Photo" category for an action shot from the women's soccer National Championship final.
Former Graphics Editor and current Ad Design Manager Mary Jesse won first place in the "Best Informational Graphic" category for the two-page spread containing electoral votes map and graphs she designed for The Observer's post-election Insider.
Former Sports Editor Dan Murphy won second place in the "Best Sports Column" category for his article titled "Irish look like horror flick," in which he sustains a horror movie metaphor throughout his post-football analysis after Notre Dame's loss to Pittsburgh.
Former and current Saint Mary's editors Liz Harter and Ashley Charnley won third in the "Best In-Depth Story" category for their coverage on the Executive Board stipend controversy in Board of Governance.
Former Scene writer and 2006 graduate Cassie Belek took home third place in the "Best Entertainment Column."
The staff won third place in the "Best Single Issue" category for its Nov. 5 edition and post-election coverage.
