For the second consecutive year, BYU NewsNet has been recognized as the best college online news service.
NewsNet received the 2000 EPpy award Friday night at the Editor & Publisher 11th Annual Interactive Newspapers Conference in New Orleans.
The 2000 Conference marked the second time an award was presented for best online news service at the college level, and it was the second year that BYU NewsNet won the award.
John Gholdston, co-managing director of BYU NewsNet, attended the conference and accepted the award on behalf of the organization.
Gholdston said outstanding communications students from reporting, broadcast, editorial and photography classes all contribute to the quality of the site.
"It takes an enormous newsroom to provide the content available on the NewsNet site," Gholdston said.
Gholdston also acknowledged the academic support of university administration, including Laurie Wilson, communications department chair; Bruce L. Christensen, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications, and President Merrill J. Bateman.
Gholdston said judges looked for sites that made the best use of the medium -- integrating video, audio, text and graphics.
The site has stayed on the cutting edge of Internet technology since 1997, when NewsNet became the first news organization in the country to physically merge the print and broadcast newsrooms, Gholston said.
Trish Barker, NewsNet's Web editor, said the integrated newsroom gave NewsNet the edge to win.
"The other two finalists we were running against are great, great papers ... but I think the judges were looking for integrated newsrooms. You can't get away with just putting your paper up on the Web anymore -- they're looking for greater depth -- something out of the ordinary."
Barker works with three associate Web editors to take advantage of all the Internet's capabilities in publishing student news stories on the Web.
The Web editors attend front-page meetings for The Daily Universe and watch the KBYU-TV news broadcast, Barker said. They then link related stories on the site so viewers can choose from print or broadcast versions of the story.
"When you're on the Web, you're giving them (the audience) more options so they can choose what they really want to see," she said.
Besides finished print and broadcast stories, NewsNet also offers live coverage of news events, raw video and audio footage, and links to other Internet sites, Barker said.
Michael Buhrley, NewsNet Web director, said the integrated newsroom gives immediacy to the news. For a recent story on an Orem home overrun with animals, NewsNet broke the story on the Internet before any other news source, Buhrley said.
"All the other news organizations were there and got video, but we got back to the newsroom and cut a video package in 10 minutes. Our audience was able to view the footage several hours before the five o'clock news," Buhrley explained.
He said that a clean design makes the site accessible to viewers.
"We try to keep the front page simple and uncluttered so when someone goes to the site they can quickly see the latest news and then link to the sections," Buhrley said.
Communications Department Chair Laurie Wilson said she was delighted that NewsNet received the award.
"The student newsroom lab is the core of our curriculum. We want to continue to train students who understand the new technology -- and can adapt to changing technology -- to stay on the forefront for the industry and the church," Wilson said.
The students' efforts have a wide audience. NewsNet had over 11 million hits for fall semester of 1999, according to statistics gathered by the site. Eighty percent of site users are outside of Utah, with users in 50 countries.
Twenty-four industry experts judged nearly 400 entries in 18 categories before selecting the winners of the 2000 EPpy awards, according to the Editor & Publisher Web site.
The other finalists at the college level were the University of New Mexico Lobo, and the University of Virginia's The Angle (The Cavalier).
See related stories:
Broadcast, print and online news media merging in the digital age 1/28/2000
Newspaper named best college online news service 2/21/99
NewsNet nominated for international award 2/10/99
Copyright Brigham Young University 13 Feb 2000
