Daily Bruin recognized with 13 awards at Long Beach college media conference

A sign in the Daily Bruin’s Kerckhoff Hall office is pictured. The Bruin received 13 awards at the Associated Collegiate Press Spring National College Media Conference. (Shiv Patel/Daily Bruin senior staff)
By Lex Wang
March 11, 2025 6:49 p.m.
LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Daily Bruin received 13 awards at the Associated Collegiate Press Spring National College Media Conference, which took place Thursday through Saturday.
Student journalists and student media advisors from across the country gathered at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach to attend the convention. With over 150 sessions hosted by journalism professionals and other experienced speakers, the convention focused on providing college publications with tools to better serve their readership.
The California College Media Association, which joined the ACP at the convention to hand out awards for work published between Dec. 15, 2023 and Dec. 16, 2024 by California collegiate publications, presented two organizational honors to the Daily Bruin: first place for Best Newspaper and third place for Best Newspaper Website.
The Bruin won first place in the Best Social Justice Coverage category for its “SJP AND UC DIVEST COALITION DEMONSTRATIONS AT UCLA” tagpage, which covered the Palestine solidarity encampment and subsequent protests last spring. The compilation of stories included a piece by Anna Dai-Liu and Dylan Winward on an attack by counter-protesters attempting to breach the encampment, which earned a first-place nod in the Best Breaking News Story category.
The staff additionally placed first for “Election 2024: The Future at the Ballot Box” in Best Election Special Issue and for “Speaking STEM? It’s Not Rocket Science.” in Best News Series.
Several staffers were also acknowledged with individual awards.
Arts editor Victoria Munck earned first place in the Best Arts and Entertainment Story category for an article detailing an alumnus’ work as director of photography on Emmy-nominated Hulu docuseries “The 1619 Project.” Lucine Ekizian received first place in the Best Headline Portfolio category, while Sara Green also won first place for Best Newspaper Column.
“Nightly Bruin: The Unsolved Disappearance of Michael Negrete – 25 Years Later” also awarded at the conference, receiving third place for Best Podcast for its examination into an ongoing case surrounding an 18-year-old student who disappeared from Dykstra Hall in 1999.
An editorial criticizing USC’s decision to revoke a student’s valedictorian speech also won first place for Best Editorial.
The ACP also presented an Online Pacemaker, an honor that distinguishes the top student-produced websites in the nation, to the Daily Bruin for a seventh straight year.
The full list of awards received in Long Beach are as follows:
Associated Collegiate Press
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Winner, Online Pacemaker: Daily Bruin staff
California College Media Association
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Winner, Best Newspaper: Daily Bruin staff
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Winner, Best Election Special Issue: Daily Bruin staff for “Election 2024: The Future at the Ballot Box”
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Winner, Best Social Justice Coverage: Daily Bruin staff for “SJP AND UC DIVEST COALITION DEMONSTRATIONS AT UCLA”
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Winner, Best News Series: Daily Bruin staff for “Speaking STEM? It’s Not Rocket Science.”
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Winner, Best Headline Portfolio: Lucine Ekizian
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Winner, Best Arts and Entertainment Story: Victoria Munck for “Emmys 2024: Alumnus Jerry Henry shares his experience working on ‘The 1619 Project’ docuseries”
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Winner, Best Newspaper Column: Sara Green
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Winner, Best Editorial: Alicia Park and Javier Jauregui Ramirez for “Editorial: USC’s barring of valedictorian commencement speaker infringes upon free expression”
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Winner, Best Breaking News Story: Anna Dai-Liu and Dylan Winward for “Pro-Israel counter-protesters attempt to storm encampment, sparking violence”
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Second Place, Best Illustration: Joanne Lee for “Opinion: Impostor syndrome can be combated by finding beauty in different paths to success”
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Third Place, Best Newspaper Website: Daily Bruin staff for dailybruin.com
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Third Place, Best Podcast: Olivia Miller, Jina Bae and Mia Fernandez for “Nightly Bruin: The Unsolved Disappearance of Michael Negrete – 25 Years Later”