The Daily Cardinal was named a national finalist for the Corbin Gwaltney Award for Best All-Around Student Newspaper by the Society of Professional Journalists.
For the second year in a row, the Cardinal also won Best All-Around Student Newspaper for Region 6’s Large Division, which includes Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Cardinal staffers also took home 24 awards and two honorable mentions at the 2024 Wisconsin Newspaper Association Collegiate Better Newspaper Contest. The Cardinal placed second for General Excellence and first in the Breaking News category for its coverage of the 12-day pro-Palestine encampment on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus last spring.
The Cardinal Editorial Board secured first and second place in the Editorial Writing category, winning first place for writing on student uncertainty surrounding UW System campus closures and second place on an updated protest policy that reshaped student expresion.
In the Collegiate Journalist of the Year category, Features Editor Emeritus Tomer Ronen won first place, and Campus News Editor Emeritus Gavin Escott took third place.
Cardinal writers also took first and second place in the Health Coverage category. Campus News Editor Annika Bereny won first for her coverage on female UW-Madison students preparing for the Trump administration as IUD appointments surged nationally. Features Editor John Ernst earned second place for reporting on the ongoing PFAS water contamination crisis in Wisconsin.
Other first-place awards from the WNA Collegiate Better Newspaper Contest:
- An in-depth piece on a news desert in Douglas County by Joseph Panzer
- A game recap of the Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team’s upset against Arizona by Jacob Szczap
- A photo essay of the Wisconsin-Minnesota Axe Game by Meghan Spirito
- An infographic detailing PAC spending in the 2024 Wisconsin Senate race by Ty Javier
Other second-place awards from the WNA Collegiate Better Newspaper Contest:
- A Cardinal Call podcast episode on student reactions to the 2024 election results by Oliver Gerharz and Gavin Escott
- An opinion article on the shortcomings of SAFEwalk by Lillie Sunby
- An in-depth piece on the federal farm bill and its impact on Wisconsin farmers by Liam Beran
In the Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism collegiate contest, Cardinal staffers won 17 awards, including gold for Best Website Design and bronze for Best Online News Story for day three of the pro-Palestine encampment coverage.
Editor-in-Chief Noe Goldhaber won gold for Best News Story, reporting on the constitutionality of a new UW-Madison protest policy. Senior staff writer Ty Javier won first place for Best Use of Multimedia with his infographic depicting PAC contributions in nonpartisan school board elections across Wisconsin.
Campus News Editor Emeritus Liam Beran also earned gold in the Best Investigative Reporting category, exposing UW System leaders who did not tell the public cybercriminals stole UW records. Lastly, senior staff writer Sreejita Patra received gold for a compelling and authentic editorial on the Oscar-nominated documentary “To Kill a Tiger.”
The Cardinal’s news desert series took two second-place awards. Panzer won in the Best Long Hard Feature Story category for his Douglas County feature, and Sarah Parker won in the Best Short Hard Feature Story category covering the difficulties of a small Florence County newspaper.
Goldhaber and Social Media Manager Gabriella Hartlaub also won silver in the Best Investigative Reporting category on UW-Madison staff members’ criticisms of an internal antisemitism training.
Francesca Pica is a former editor-in-chief for The Daily Cardinal. She previously served as the city news editor. She has covered multiple municipal elections, state politics and lead reporting on Madison labor issues. She served as an intern for The Capital Times, WisPolitics and the Wisconsin State Journal. She will intern with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 2025.
Ava Menkes is a former managing editor for The Daily Cardinal. She previously served as the state news editor. She has covered multiple elections, legislative redistricting, healthcare and campus news. She also led 2024 presidential coverage and a project on news deserts. She previously interned with Wisconsin Watch and Isthmus, and will report with The Nation in 2025 on foreign policy and immigration. Follow her on Twitter at @AvaMenkes.
