The Reporter Selected As Pacemaker Finalist

The Reporter has been selected as a 2013 Associated College Press Newspaper Pacemaker finalist in the two-year college newspaper category.

Pacemakers are considered by many to be the top national award for college newspapers, and the Pulitzer Prize equivalent in student journalism.

“It’s a great honor for our students to be selected as a finalist,” said Manolo Barco, the media adviser to The Reporter. “This is validation of the hard work they put in year round to keep the  Miami Dade College community informed.”

Entries are based on content that was produced during the 2012-13 school year. Winners will be announced at the National College Media Convention on Oct. 26 in New Orleans.

Finalists were selected amongst hundreds of submissions. Papers are judged nationally based on quality of the writing and reporting, evidence of in-depth reporting, layout and design, quality of photography, and art and graphics and the opinion page.

In addition to being named a Pacemaker finalist, two other Reporter staffers from last year were selected as 2013 ACP finalists in separate photography and design categories.

Agustin Toriz, who served as art director for paper last year, was selected as a finalist for the 2013 ACP Newspaper Page/Spread category. Toriz was picked for a spread he did called “The Faces Of Deferred Action.”

And Gregory Castillo, who was a photographer for The Reporter last year, was selected as a finalist for the 2013 ACP Photo Excellence Awards. He was selected for a photo he took of LeBron James during a Miami Heat game versus the Charlotte Bobcats

The Reporter was launched on Oct. 4, 2010, after the College merged the school’s three student newspapers—The Falcon Times (North Campus), the Metropolis ( Wolfson Campus), and the Catalyst (Kendall Campus)—to form the largest community college newspaper in Florida. The paper features 16 pages, prints on a biweekly schedule, has a circulation of 10,250 per print cycle, and is augmented by a website with video and audio content.

The student newspapers at MDC—The Falcon Times was the school’s first newspaper in 1961— have won 18 National Pacemaker awards, many of them under the guidance of legendary adviser, Jose Quevedo.

Quevedo died in 1992, four months prior to the school being awarded its last Pacemaker award.