OU Daily wins Associated Collegiate Press online Pacemaker Award

OU Daily earned a Pacemaker Award, commonly known as the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism, for its online work in results announced this week at the college media fall national convention in Atlanta. 

The Daily, which has served Norman and campus communities as the independent student voice of the University of Oklahoma since 1916, also earned three other national awards at the convention. 

It is the eighth time, per available department records, that OU Daily has earned the honor for its online or newspaper work in the contest administered since 1927 by the Associated Collegiate Press. Winners in the online category among four-year campuses were:

• Daily Forty-Niner at California State University, Long Beach
• Los Angeles Loyolan at Loyola Marymount University
• Daily Bruin at UCLA
• The State Hornet at Sacramento State University
• Golden Gate Xpress at San Francisco State University
• Spinnaker at the University of North Florida
• The Daily Iowan at the University of Iowa
• The Michigan Daily at the University of Michigan
• The State News at Michigan State University
• The Ithacan at Ithaca College
• NYCity News Service at City University of New York
• The Chronicle at Duke University
• Elon News Network at Elon University
• OU Daily at the University of Oklahoma
• Daily Emerald at the University of Oregon
• The Daily Gamecock at the University of South Carolina
• The Shorthorn at the University of Texas at Arlington
• The Daily Texan at the University of Texas

The Daily previously earned Pacemakers in 2005 and 2009 for its online work and in 1994, 1995, 2004, 2016 and 2017 for its newspaper work. 

Media group of the year: Additionally, the Daily earned an honorable mention from the College Media Association in its Pinnacles contest — results from which were also announced in Atlanta — for Division I media group of the year.

• 1st: NYCity News Service at CUNY
• 2nd: Indiana Daily Student at Indiana University
• 3rd: The Appalachian at Appalachian State University
• Honorable mentions: The Michigan Daily and OU Daily

Newspaper website of the year: The Daily also earned an honorable mention in the CMA’s Pinnacles for Division I newspaper website of the year.

• 1st: The DePaulia at DePaul University
• 2nd: The Kentucky Kernel at the University of Kentucky
• 3rd: The Daily Forty-Niner at Cal State Long Beach
• Honorable mentions: The Niner Times at the University of North Carolina Charlotte and OU Daily

Sports newsletter of the year: Finally, OU Daily placed for the first time in the CMA’s Pinnacles in the combined Division I, II and two-year campus category for sports email newsletter of the year.

• 1st: The Michigan Daily at the University of Michigan
• 2nd: The Vanderbilt Hustler at Vanderbilt University
• 3rd: OU Daily
• Honorable mentions: The Daily Gamecock at the University of South Carolina and The Ithacan at Ithaca College. 

OU Student Media endeavors have now earned 14 organizational Pinnacle honors since 2017. 

OU Daily has been named among college media’s best news websites four times in the past seven years, winning the top honor in 2019 and 2022. 

OU Daily has been named among college media’s best news outlets six times in the past seven years, winning the top honor in 2017 and 2019.  

Entries judged were produced between June 2022-June 2023, spanning the tenures of summer 2022 editor-in-chief Jazz Wolfe (Enid, Oklahoma) and fall 2022-spring 2023 editor-in-chief Jillian Taylor (Colleyville, Texas).  

This story first appeared on OUDaily.com.