Cal Poly’s Mustang News Wins Multiple National and State Honors

Mustang News, which is celebrating its 100th year in 2016, garnered several awards at the College Media Business and Advertising Managers (CMBAM) convention in Denver and the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP)/California College Media Association (CCMA) convention in Los Angeles.

At the CMBAM awards dinner in March, Mustang News received five first-place awards, including the prestigious Advertising Sales Representative of the Year. Kristen Corey, a third-year communication studies major from Orange County, became the sixth Mustang News student to win the Sales Representative of the Year award in the past 10 years.

“Kristen joins a very impressive group of former Mustang News ad reps who have won this award,” said Paul Bittick, Mustang News general manager. “We are very proud of the students we have developed here on the advertising and business side. Of the top four student media outlets, Cal Poly is the only one that does not have an advertising major at the university.”

Mustang News also finished fourth nationally behind Central Michigan Life, University Kansan and State News at Michigan State in the Media Organization of the Year competition. Other winners at CMBAM included art and design major Erica Patstone (Valley Center, Calif.) for best color advertisement; journalism major Jacob Lauing (Palo Alto, Calif.) for best sponsored content/native advertisement; and art and design major Ally Bender (Orange, Calif.) for best online business website, http://www.mustangnewsbusiness.net. Mustang News also placed first for best self-branded promotional giveaway for its 99th anniversary T-shirt.

In the live selloff competition sponsored by The McClatchy Co., business marketing major Sam Patterson (Klamath Falls, Ore.) finished second place.

Mustang News was second in Best Sales Strategy for a Special Section; third for Best Special Event and Best Self-Promotion Video, fourth in Advertising Manager of the Year (business marketing major Anna Seskind (Boulder, Colo.), Marketing Manager of the Year (business accounting major Ross Pfeiffer, Sunnyvale, Calif.), Best Training Program, Best Sales Incentive Program, Best Digital Sales Strategy, and Best Multimedia Ad Campaign.

CMBAM is a national organization with more than 110 member schools.

At the ACP/CCMA convention, Mustang News placed second in the Best of Show competition for best four-year weekly newspaper; second for best Multimedia Package, and sixth for best Special Section.

At the California College Media Association banquet, Mustang News took four first-place awards. Winners included agriculture communications major Jordan Dunn (Visalia, Calif.) for Best Weekly Newspaper/Design Spread; Jacob Lauing (Journalism, ’15) for Best Feature Story, and Olivia DeGennaro (Journalism, ’15) for both Nonbreaking News Story and Best News Series.

Second-place award winners included journalism major Celina Oseguera (Stockton, Calif.) for Best Special Section, and journalism majors Kayla Missman (Riverside, Calif.), Leah Horner (Sacramento, Calif.), Kyle McCarty (Journalism, ’15) and Sam Pryor (Thousand Oaks, Calif.) for Best Infographic and Best Breaking News Story, Brendan Abrams (Reseda, Calif.) took third place in Best Headline Portfolio.

In the Advertising division, art and design majors Jordan Triplett (Brentwood, Calif.) and Ellen Fabini (El Cerrito, Calif.) won first place for best Online Advertising Campaign. Triplett also placed first for Best Sales Promotion Materials. Art and design majors Erica Patstone and Micaela Pacini (San Mateo, Calif.) took second for Best Online Ad and Best Black and White Ad, respectively.