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Cal Poly’s Mustang Media Group Wins 17 National College Media Awards

SAN LUIS OBISPO — Mustang Media Group, the Cal Poly Journalism Department’s student-run media organization, received national recognition last month from two of college media’s most distinguished organizations — Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) and College Media Association (CMA).

“As we continue to integrate our media group, our team is honored receive these national awards,” said Austin Linthicum, business administration junior and editor-in-chief of Mustang Media Group. 


2017-18 CMA Pinnacle Awards
The College Media Association presents its Pinnacle Awards to the best college media organizations and individual work in the country and allows student work submissions from any college media organization. Outstanding individual work in advertising, broadcast, design, online media, photo, sports and writing categories, as well as organizational achievement for newspapers, stations, magazines, websites and yearbooks of 2017-18 are recognized, according to the College Media Association’s an­nouncement. Mustang Media Group’s awards included:

  • Best Social Media Main Page (first place)
  • Best Social Media Strategy (first place)
  • Best Social Media Presence (first place)
  • Advertising: Best Display Ad (second place)
  • Broadcast: Four-Year TV Station of the Year (second place)
  • Design: Best Online Infographic, Brendan Matsuyama (second place)
  • Broadcast: Best Radio Special Event Coverage (third place)
  • Design: Best Newspaper News Page/Spread (third place)
  • Advertising: Best Ad Campaign (honorable mention)
  • Design: Best Newspaper Photo Page/Spread (honorable mention)
  • Honorable Mention, Writing: Best News Package

2017-18 ACP Pacemaker Awards
ACP’s Pacemaker Awards, collegiate journalism’s preeminent awards, are granted by the Associated Collegiate Press, a national college media association, and have been presented annually since 1927. Mustang Media Group’s awards included:

CMA received 408 organizational entries from 294 colleges and universi­ties, according to the organization’s Twitter announcement on Oct. 26. ACP nominated 37 schools for the national honors. 

Mustang Media Group holds past Pinnacle Awards in Best Display Ad, Best TV Special Event Coverage, Best Social Media Main Page, and Best Portrait from CMA’s 2016-17 competition, and Online Pace­maker Awards from 2007, 2010 and 2014. 

“For the past decade Mustang Media Group and Mustang News has been one of the most recognized student media organizations in the nation,” said Mustang Media Group General Manager Paul Bittick. “Our students are the best in the nation and so deserving of these honors.”

The awards were presented at the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention, held Oct. 25-28 in Louisville, Kentucky. Mustang Media Group was not able to attend and accept the Pinnacle and Pacemaker Awards because of California’s indefinite ban on state-sponsored travel to states with laws that allow discrimination based on sexual or gender orientation.

Associated Collegiate Press is a national nonprofit member association of collegiate journalism and student media leaders. ACP has more than 650 members and supports students, teachers and media advisers through journalism education, recognition and training programs. The Pinnacle Awards are hosted by CMA, a national council of media advisors, and have been presented annually since 1954. The association has more than 800 members and supports new and veteran advisors of collegiate media programs with conventions, publications and national networking.

About Mustang Media Group
Mustang Media Group is the fully integrated student-run media organization at Cal Poly. When formed in 2013, it became the first program of its kind in the California State University system, bringing the student newspaper, TV studio, radio station, public relations agency, and business operations under one umbrella and providing students with the type of environment that has become standard in today’s media industry.

Contact: Claire Blachowski
Mustang Media Group PR Manager
949-529-6059; cblachow@calpoly.edu

November 30, 2018

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