York University student journalists kick some U.S. butt

By Alexandra Posadzki

A couple of days I got that warm, glowy feeling as I tore open a large yellow envelope addressed to my office, room 420 Student Centre, York University Keele Campus.

The letter contained the only piece of tangible proof - asides from a couple words out in cyberspace - that my campus newspaper, Excalibur, had won fifth place in the Associated Collegiate Press's Best of Show competition at the Phoenix, Arizona convention.

I know that fifth place hardly sounds lofty, but the category has become a lot more competitive over the last year when all of the newspaper formats (ex. tabloid, broadsheet) were combined into one category, meaning that my schools tabloid-sized, four-year weekly newspaper is now up against broadsheets like Chico State's The Orion (a very high-quality student paper, I must admit).

This means that our category contained 50 competitors, with the top 10 receiving awards. Considering that, fifth place is hardly something to scoff at.

Our prize-winning issue fills me with more than just York pride, however; it fills me with Canadian pride as well. For those of you who may not be aware, the Associated Collegiate Press is like an American version of the Canadian University Press, only minus the news wire and located out of the U.S. Often a lot of Canadian papers don't have the travel funds to send their editors out over the border (one great incentive to come and work for Excalibur!).

Of the select few Canadian student papers at the conference, Excalibur was the only one that placed in any of the categories, meaning that we represented Canadian talent and kicked some serious U.S. booty; a win for student journalists all across the country.

Alexandra Posadzki (alexposadzki@gmail.com) is a radio room intern at the Toronto Star and the Editor-in-Chief of Excalibur, York University's community newspaper.