Fordham University’s Rose Hill-based student newspaper, The Ram, recently received awards from the American Scholastic Press Association (ASPA) and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Circle.
Volume 90 of The Ram, which was published during the 2008 calendar year, received the designation of Most Outstanding University Newspaper from the ASPA and won first place among newspapers from colleges and universities with an enrollment of 2,501 or greater.
The 2009 Columbia Scholastic Press Association Gold Circle Awards went to Mary Young, a Fordham College at Rose Hill junior, who won third place in the category of “personal opinion in on-campus issues for newspapers.”
Claire Borders, a Fordham College at Rose Hill sophomore, won a certificate of merit for “entertainment reviews in newspapers.” The paper also won a certificate of merit for “overall design in tabloid format for newspapers.”
Will Moccia (FCRH ’09), editor in chief of The Ram for Volume 90, said the awards were a testament to the hard work of the paper’s staffers, who, he said, have not been honored like this previously.
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This is a win—not just for Volume 90—but also for all of the editors of the previous volumes who helped bring The Ram to the level where it is today,” Moccia said.
Likewise, Amanda Fiscina, a Fordham College at Rose Hill junior and the current editor in chief, credited last year’s overhaul of The Ram’s templates, fonts and styles with lending a much more professional look to the paper. She also noted that the paper is giving more attention to serious topics, as evidenced by a one-on-one interview with Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham.
“We really focused on generating more serious and interesting content on topics pertinent to the Fordham community,” she said.
