Online Pacemaker finalists announced

Associated Collegiate Press announced finalists in the 2008 Online Pacemaker contest today.

Winners will be announced for the first time at the National College Media Convention Oct. 29-Nov. 2, 2008 in Kansas City.

ACP received 155 entries for the 2008 Online Pacemaker contest. The contest was judged by Will Sullivan, interactive director of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

"I’m so encouraged to see all the excellent work being done at college papers across the country," Sullivan wrote in a blog post on the ACP site. "I’m even more encouraged that it’s not just at the traditional ‘big name’ journalism schools."

"This was probably the most difficult contest for me to judge in two years," he added. "The quality, design, depth, breadth and timeliness of content being produced at these college publications rivals and sometimes beats that of most ‘professional’ media outlets. I was highly encouraged to see many papers producing podcasts, multimedia, blogs, forums and breaking news on their websites."

The finalists are:

Four-year Daily Newspapers

DailyIllini.com
University of Illinois, Champaign, Ill.
Kathleen O'Connell, editor
Mary Cory, adviser

DENNews.com
Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, Ill.
Chris Essig, editor
Joe Gisondi/Bryan Murley, advisers

idsnews.com
Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.
James Brosher, editor
Nancy Comiskey, adviser

The University Daily Kansan
University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan.
Brian Lewis-Jones, editor
Malcolm Gibson, adviser

The Daily Orange
Syracuse University, Syracuse, N.Y.
Brian Goetsch, editor
Peter Waack, adviser

KentNewsNet.com
Kent State University, Kent, Ohio
Kristen Russo, editor
Carl Schierhorn, adviser

The Daily Collegian Online
Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.
Ryan Pfister, editor
John Harvey, adviser

The Shorthorn
University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas
Daniel Johnson, editor
Lloyd Goodman/Chris Whitley, advisers

CollegiateTimes.com
Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
Christopher Ritter, editor
Kelly Wolff, adviser

Four-year Non-daily Newspapers

The State Hornet
Sacramento State University, Sacramento, Calif.
Cody Kitaura, editor
Holly Heyser, adviser

Golden Gate [X]Press
San Francisco State University, San Francisco, Calif.
Aaron Morrison, editor
Jesse Garnier, adviser

gwhatchet.com
George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
Andrew Nacin, editor

TheMiamiHurricane.com
University of Miami, Coral Gables, Fla.
Brian Schlansky, editor
Sigman Splichal, adviser

arbiteronline.com
Boise State University, Boise, Idaho
Brian Luptak, editor
Dan Morris, adviser

The Baker Orange
Baker University, Baldwin City, Kan.
Chansi Long, editor
Gwyn Mellinger, adviser

The Nevada Sagebrush
University of Nevada, Reno, Nev.
Chelsea Otakan, editor
Amy Koeckes, adviser

The Ithacan Online
Ithaca College, Ithaca, N.Y.
Nic Barajas, editor
Michael Serino, adviser

The Temple News
Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa.
Sean Blanda, editor
John Di Carlo, adviser

Two-year College Newspapers

The Sun Online
Southwestern College, Chula Vista, Calif.
Esmeralde F. Ramirez, editor
Max Branscomb, adviser

The Clarion Online
Citrus College, Glendora, Calif.
Samantha Bravo, editor
Margaret O'Neil, adviser

CrusaderNews.com
Seward County Community College, Liberal, Kan.
Luke Wempe, editor
Anita Reed, adviser

Richland Chronicle
Richland College, Dallas, Texas
Robin Everson, editor
Matt Hinckley, adviser

Magazine/Broadcast/Online-only Publications

the217.com
University of Illinois, Champaign, Ill.
Dan Newman and Stephanie Praether, editors
Melinda Miller, adviser

North by Northwestern
Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.
Tom Giratikanon, editor

Drake Magazine
Drake University School of Journalism, Des Moines, Iowa
Randall Noblet, editor
Kathleen Richardson, adviser

The Daily Gazette
Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pa.
Miles Skorpen, editor

Connect Mason
George Mason University, Fairfax, Va.
Whitney Rhodes, editor
Kathryn Mangus, adviser