The Observer took third place in the Division I "Newspaper of the Year" category, and former Managing Editor Sarah Mervosh won the Brook Baker Collegiate Journalist of the Year Award at the Indiana College Press Association (ICPA) awards ceremony, held Saturday at Ball State University in Muncie.
The Observer staff won an additional 15 awards, including third place for "Advertising Publication of the Year." Other University publications represented at ICPA were Scholastic, which tied with Ball State's Ball Bearings for second place in "News Magazine of the Year," Dome, which won second place in the Division I "Yearbook of the Year" category and The Juggler, which took third place in "Literary Magazine of the Year."
Mervosh is the third Notre Dame student to win the Brook Baker Award, which was first awarded in 1999 in honor of the late Vincennes University student.
The Editorial Board of The Observer took first place in the "Best Staff Editorial" category for its Nov. 10 piece, "Professionalism and integrity above all."
Former Assistant Managing Editor Adriana Pratt won first place in "Best Entertainment Column" for her coverage of the New York premiere of the final Harry Potter film, titled "The Magic of a Potter Premiere." Scene Editor Kevin Noonan took third place in the same category for his column titled "A 'Dear John' Letter for Netflix."
Former Scene Editor MaijaGustin won first place for "Best Entertainment Story" for her coverage of an on-campus presentation of a documentary on the Nuremberg Trials, titled "Schulberg presents 'Nuremberg' years after its creation."
In the same category, senior staff writer Mary Claire O'Donnell took second place for her article about a Notre Dame engineering alumnus who is also a published author, titled "ND grad explores storms and struggle in fiction work."
Former Editor-in-Chief Douglas Farmer and Graphics Editor Brandon Keelean won first place for "Best Rate Card" for the design of The Observer's advertising rate card. Farmer and Keelean also took second place in the "Best House Ad" category for their ad titled "The Observer Remembers."
Mervosh won second place in the "Best Breaking News Story" for her coverage of graduate student Xavier Murphy's October death, "Community remembers fifth-year student." She also took third place for "Best News Feature" for her piece on the 10-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, titled "Malloy, graduates remember 'somber' 2001 environment."
The Observer staff won third place for "Best Stand-Alone/Pullout Section" for its special section on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, titled "9/11: Ten Years Later."Keelean, Mervosh, former Photo Editor Pat Coveney and Managing Editor Megan Doyle also took third place in the "Best Informational Graphic" category for their accompanying 9/11 timeline.
Multimedia Editor Sarah O'Connor won second place for "Best Feature Photo" for her photo from Girl Talk's concert at the B1 Block Party concert in August.
The sports department took third place in the "Best Special Issue" category for its Oct. 21 Irish Insider profiling the football team's night game against USC, titled "The Wait is Over."
Editor-in-Chief Allan Joseph won third place for "Best Sports Column" for his piece "After all the hype, Irish weren't even close" after the football team's 31-17 loss to USC on Oct. 22.
The Observer's award-winning submissions are available on its website, www.ndsmcobserver.com.
