The Pioneer and its staff members won six awards in the 2023 Indiana Collegiate Press Association
journalism competition. The awards were announced at the association’s annual convention in
Indianapolis in early April.

Two staff members won individual awards: Jason Eberly, first place for in-depth coverage of the spam
email students receive from the university and campus organizations; and Laura Mielke, third place for
illustration that promoted the December 2022 commencement and the Christmas holiday.

Staff members shared four awards: first place for a single issue; first place for continuous coverage of a
single story, COVID’s impact on students; second place for continuous coverage of a single story, the
implications of financial aid for students who work; and third place for overall design of a single issue.
In the review of Pioneer’s continuous coverage of the pandemic, the judge wrote: “Excellent work by the
newspaper team on showing how the pandemic affected students in so many different ways. It was great
how they had so many student voices throughout the coverage to provide their stories and insights. The
work and well-planned coverage here makes it the best of the category. Great job!”
Pioneer Advisor James Martinez said the awards recognize the high-quality journalism being done by
students.
“Pioneer staff members take great pride in serving the PNW community by covering the issues that affect
students, faculty and staff,” he said. “These awards confirm that we are achieving that mission and
winning recognition from journalists across the state.”