The Daily Universe staff won 13 awards in Utah Press Association's 2019 Better Newspaper Contest and BYU students won six awards from the Society of Professional Journalists Region 9 in its Mark of Excellence contest.
BYU students were finalists in four more of the SPJ award categories.
From the Utah Press Association, Daily Universe staff won first place among Utah's college newspapers for overall best news coverage in 2019. Staff also took first in best infographic for the map of BYU in the Fall 2019 new student orientation of the paper, and third place in best front page for the same edition's front page spread.
The Daily Universe's 2019 Utah Press Association winners are:
Kaitlyn Bancroft: Best Business Story, 1st place, Censorship, soft power, and Chinese language newspapers in the U.S. and Best Sports Story, 1st place, How a former BYU-football player has been combining sports and sculpture for nearly 40 years
Jenae Hyde: Best Photo Page, 1st place, More2Life and the Harlem Jets
Riley Waldman: Best General News Story, 2nd place, The perfect stranger: a cautionary tale of online dating
Sahalie Donaldson: Best Feature Story, 2nd place, Skiers love the backcountry despite avalanche dangers; technology may save lives and Best Government/Political Story, 3rd place, How does trauma affect police officers?
Jenna Alton: Best Education Story, 3rd place, Anti-vaccination movement threatens global health
Rachel Keeler: Best News Series, 3rd place, The Church and BYU: An evolution — of evolution
Judges also chose a single edition from each of the entering publications. They chose the June 18-24 edition of The Universe gave the following awards:
Aaron Fitzner: Best Sports Story, 2nd place, Clayton Young — NCAA champion
Jenna Alton, Best Lead Story, 3rd place, Rigorous EFY application process ensures high-quality counselors
Society of Professional Journalists
Region 9 of the Society of Professional Journalists consists of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. First place winners in SPJ's Mark of Excellence contest will go on to compete nationally against student newspapers across the country.
The Daily Universe received first place in Breaking News Reporting for coverage of the honor code office protests earlier this year and first place in Best All-Around Non Daily Student Newspaper. The Universe was also a finalist for Best Affiliated Website. Newsline, BYU's TV news outlet, won first place in Best All-Around Television Newscast.
BYU's 2019 Society of Professional Journalist winners and finalists are:
Jenna Alton: Breaking News Reporting, Finalist, BYU valedictorian comes out as gay in viral convocation speech; and General news reporting, Winner, Anti-vaccination movement threatens global health
Riley Waldman: General News Reporting, Finalist, The perfect stranger: a cautionary tale of online dating
Kaitlyn Bancroft: In Depth Reporting, Winner, Is US press freedom declining under the Trump administration? and Feature Writing, Finalist, How a former BYU-football player has been combining sports and sculpture for nearly 40 years
Taylor Hansen: Television General News Reporting, Winner, The Bison Round-Up at Antelope State Park