Westchester Community College, State University of New York

The Viking News was honored with an Apple Award in the Best College Newspaper category on Saturday, March 16th at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in Manhattan, New York. The organization was awarded third place in the two-year college division.

It’s important to stress that The Viking News competed with colleges that have student news teams of hundreds of reporters while The Viking News operates with a team of 15 to 25 dedicated student journalists, that many college newspapers are incorporated specifically within the journalism curriculums and institutionally funded while The Viking News is independently funded by the student activity fee and supported through the Department of Student Involvement, and that many of the other contestants had a number of professional journalists and professors supporting their efforts while The Viking News is supported by their staff adviser, faculty adviser, and the journalism department chair alone. Often, these types of competitions are not made for community college students who are commuting to campus each day, work full and part-time jobs, support their families, and work hard to fit extracurriculars into their demanding schedules. Nevertheless, The Viking News prevailed and achieved this highest of honors for a student newspaper in the country.

The last time The Viking News won an Apple Award was in 2018, before the COVID19 pandemic. They continued to publish throughout the pandemic and attend the College Media Association (CMA) Conference yearly to keep up with current journalism trends and network with other student journalists around the country. CMA is the nation’s largest organization dedicated to serving collegiate media. Each year, CMA presents Apple Awards to honor the best college media organizations and individual work. The annual contest is open to student work produced for any college media organization, including print, broadcast and online outlets, during an academic year.

If you’re interested, here is the winning paper:

SPRING 2024 ISSUE VI

Other issues can be found at vikingnews.org or by visiting them on Instagram @thevikingnews
All students, regardless of experience, are welcome to join this award-winning newspaper! Meetings are at 4:30 PM on Mondays at the Student Center, Room 111. Email EditorInChiefVN@sunywcc.edu for more information.