Bullet Wins 5 News Awards In Virginia State Press Contest

The Bullet recently received five Virginia Press Association awards for the 2010 collegiate journalism competition.

The Bullet won first-place for former Editor-in-Chief Jessica Masulli’s general news coverage of former Chief Information Officer Khalil Yazdi’s firing, and for former Entertainment Editor and current Online Editor Thomas Ella’s critical writing in his reviews.

In addition, the Bullet won second place for current Editor-in-Chief Lindley Estes’ General News Coverage of the November drug arrests, second place for its Staff Editorials on former President Hample, and third place for Masulli’s Spot News Coverage on Hample’s resignation.

The VPA praised the Bullet’s editorial staff for knowing “where it stands on the Hample question” and for delivering “lively opinions bolstered by facts and figures.” However, the VPA stated, “Some additional attention paid to counter-arguments would make them even stronger.”

The VPA also praised Ella’s entertainment reviews for having “an identifiable voice that convinces a reader to come along for the ride, whether in agreement or not,” and because his “on-the-ground details show how reporting must still be the foundation of critical writing.”

For Masulli’s Spot News Coverage of Hample’s resignation, the VPA said, “Important background information helped explain the trajectory of this administrative decision.

According to their website, the VPA, which administers the annual contest, received 3,664 total entries from 121 different contestants for the 2010 competition. These figures include all sizes of newspapers, but had a separate category for collegiate journalism.

Eastern Mennonite University’s Weather Vane, placed first above the Bullet for its editorials on sustainability, and Virginia Tech’s Collegiate Times took first and second place in the Spot News Writing category for their coverage of the death of a student falling from a balcony and the cancellation of classes after the collapse of a local high school’s roof, respectively.

Other newspapers to win a significant amount of awards were James Madison University’s the Breeze, and Virginia Commonwealth University’s the Commonwealth Times.

A total of eight colleges and universities placed in the 21 possible VPA award categories.