CU Independent wins collegiate journalism’s preeminent award

CU Boulder’s student news site, CU Independent, is one of four student news sites to receive the 2016 Online Pacemaker award from the Associated Collegiate Press.

"This award is a huge testament to how hard this staff works on a daily basis," says Xandra McMahon, a CU senior and the Editor-in-Chief of CUI. "For years we've been pushing our creative limits, and this win validates all that hard work."

Established in 1923, Pacemakers are collegiate journalism’s preeminent award. Entries are judged by teams of professionals based on coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership, design, photography and graphics. For the 2016 award, judges remarked on the quality of CUI’s navigation, music reporting and grades database.

CUI was a finalist for the award in 2015, but this is the first time the student news site has won the full award. Gil Asakawa, the student media advisor for CUI, says the site’s staff has been working continuously to improve the quality of their publication. “This award is a national acknowledgment that the students of the CUI are doing great work that they can be proud of,” he said. 

"The staff was ecstatic to hear the news, especially the editors who have been at the CUI for over three years now," says McMahon. "To finally be able to see that plaque go up on our newsroom wall was really something special."