Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Humboldt State -- Lumberjack Entry Title: Challenges as HSU preps to be polytechnic Entry Credit: Morgan Hancock, Poppy Cartledge, Ruby Guillette Judge Comment: The Lumberjack's entry about the school's transition from a regular CSU to a Polytechnic university covers all the bases, from what it means to how students feel about it. The writing wasn't always the cleanest, but the reporting certainly was.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: Santa Clara University Entry Title: Sexual Violence at Santa Clara University Entry Credit: MAGGIE BANNAN, CAROLYN KUIMELIS, ROBBY O'BRIEN, Claire Murphy Judge Comment: Santa Clara's entry isn't the best written entry and misses a few key questions, but it tackles sensitive subject matter well and has a lot strong reporting in it.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: California State University Dominguez Hills Entry Title: CSUDH Returning to campus COVID-19 measures news series. Entry Credit: Jasmine Contreras Judge Comment: There's a lot of good reporting, student voices and context in CSUDH's entry on the pandemic, but at just two stories it left me wanting more.
Competition Comment: Reporting separated the winner from the rest of the entries. The Lumberjack's work covering the school's transition from a CSU to a polytechnic university covered all the bases and moves from related articles to an actual series with reaction from those most impacted. The other two winners were good entries that needed more to them: In Santa Clara's case, it was more questions of the stakeholders in its series about sexual assault on campus; in CSUDH's, it was just more in general. The winners were also generally better written than the rest of the entrants. Being able to write a strong lede and being able to structure an engaging story or narrative are important, although nothing covers for an underreported story.
