Last year, NOVA Fortnightly, the newspaper of Northern Virginia Community College, became the first publication of the college to ever win a Virginia Press Association award.
Traci J. Brooks, Joshua Davis and Ling Lee won awards in photography and photo illustration for work published in 2010. They competed against mainstream newspapers.
And now they’ve done it again.
Brooks and KJ Mushung have won VPA awards for work published in 2011, again competing against mainstream newspapers in the non-daily newspaper division.
Brooks won for the second year in a row, taking second place for photo illustration. And Mushung won first place in Virginia for pictorial photo.
“I am incredibly honored to receive a VPA award two years in a row. This award verifies the importance of college newspapers. In today’s age of Facebook and Twitter there is still a need for solid journalism, and it’s an honor to be able to provide that at NOVA Fortnightly.”
NOVA Fortnightly was founded in 2009 and serves all six campuses of the college, located in Alexandria, Annandale, Springfield, Sterling, Woodbridge and Manassas, in addition to its learning centers in Reston and Arlington.
The newspaper is led by Mushung, a veteran reporter who serves as the Newspaper Training Director. Dr. Jimmie McClellan, Dean for Liberal Arts, serves as Faculty Advisor. Brooks is the newspaper’s Photography Director and owns her own photography studio.
“It’s ambitious for a college newspaper to even be a member of the Virginia Press Association,” said McClellan. “It is an extraordinary achievement for a college newspaper to be recognized.”
“A lot of people don’t understand what an incredible commitment of time and effort the newspaper is,” said Mushung. “We occasionally have people come on board for only a short period of time because they did not realize how much work goes into putting together a quality publication like this. Fortunately, the core staff is very dedicated. Even though they didn’t all win awards, they certainly deserve to.”
Northern Virginia Community College has over 75,000 students and is the largest institution of higher education in the Commonwealth of Virginia. NOVA Fortnightly publishes both in print and online at NOVAfortnightly.com.
The Virginia Press Association holds one of the largest news contests in the nation, annually attracting more than 5,000 entries.
The mission of the VPA is to support its membership through responsive services and resources. The organization represents newspaper interests in the General Assembly through lobbying efforts. It also champions the common interests of Virginia newspapers and the ideals of a free press in a democratic society.
