For the first time, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) awarded The Emory Wheel the 2024 national Corbin Gwaltney Award for Best All-Around Student Newspaper in the “small” university division on May 19. The Wheel also won a national award for breaking news photography and four Region 3 Mark of Excellence awards in the Feature Writing, Editorial/Opinion Writing, General Column Writing and Breaking News Photography categories. Additionally, The Wheel finished as a finalist in the General News Reporting and Photo Essay/Slideshow categories.
The SPJ is an organization that promotes the free exchange of ideas through journalism. Aside from annual accolades recognizing outstanding professional and student media, the SPJ provides educational opportunities and initiatives that promote First Amendment rights. Region 3 consists of Universities from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, South Carolina and the United States Virgin Islands.
Former Editor-in-Chief Madi Olivier (25C) emphasized that the Wheel’s coverage of the pro-Palestinian protests throughout 2024 had contributed to the paper winning best small student newspaper this year.
“Obviously it was a big moment for journalists, of course,” Olivier said. “To be there and get to cover it in person, it’s not something a lot of colleges had happen. And so the nature of that, we automatically stood out.”
Multimedia Managing Editor Jack Rutherford (27C) won the national and regional award for best Breaking News Photography for his photo of a police officer kneeling on a man’s head after police ended a pro-Palestine encampment on April 25, 2024. Additionally, Rutherford and Editor-in-Chief Spencer Friedland (26C) were finalists for best Photo Essay/Slideshow in the Region 3 category for their work capturing photos from the April 25 encampment.
Last year, Rutherford won the SPJ’s Region 3 award in the Breaking News Reporting category for the piece “University president denounces ‘antisemitic’ rhetoric at campus protest,” which he wrote alongside former editors-in-chief Matthew Chupack (24C) and Sarah Davis (22Ox, 24C).
Rutherford recalled the intensity and excitement of capturing the protests in real time and how the protests have affected his appreciation for journalism.
“I just remember at some point the adrenaline taking over and just trying to take all the photos that I could,” Rutherford said. “For the entire duration of when the police were breaking up the encampment, I don’t think my finger left the shutter button on my camera for more than a minute in total. I took over 1,500 photos of that short time span.”
Rutherford said he was “stunned” to win this year’s best Breaking News Photography in the national category.
“Going from the regional award to the national award, you’re competing against the best of the best photography from all the other student newspapers in the country,” Rutherford said. “So to have received the award, I’m just so honored.”
Arts & Life and Editorial Board Managing Editor Catherine Goodman (26C) won the Region 3 award for Feature Writing (Small) for her piece “‘Frankenstein club’: WMRE returns from dead,” which covered the revival of Emory’s student-run broadcasting station. The SPJ also awarded Goodman with the Region 3 award for the General Column Writing category for “Cat’s Collection,” where she handpicks her favorite music albums and tracks for different occasions and themes, varying from Valentine’s Day and feminism.
Despite her multiple wins, Goodman said she felt more excited to see the entire team receive recognition because of the “ungodly” amount of time that contributors devote to the paper.
“I was more excited when I saw that the wheel won, because it's just really amazing to feel like this collective effort,” Goodman said.
Goodman also expressed her admiration for the Wheel’s unity during last year’s protests.
“With everything that happened in April, everyone stepped up,” Goodman said. “We had Arts and Life editors at the protests. We had Sports writers. Everyone stepped up and played a role.”
Goodman added that her time at the Wheel has exposed her to new perspectives and skills in journalistic writing.
“Being at the Wheel and working within the system that we have has really taught me not only … how to be both the recipient of criticism, but also the one making the critiques,” Goodman said. “That is what life at the Wheel is — you’re constantly helping other people to make their work better, but you’re also receiving feedback to make your work better.”
Reflecting on the awards the Wheel won, Friedland said the paper has had a vital impact on his college life, for the diverse skills he acquired through engaging with the Wheel, from journalism writing to photography. He emphasized that the awards demonstrated the diligence of all writers of the Wheel.
“It speaks to the hard work that everyone at The Emory Wheel does,” Friedland said. “Obviously, winning the award for best paper in the southeast is a big deal, and it’s not an award that any one person can take credit for. It’s something that everyone has to work together to achieve.”
Additionally, the Wheel’s continuing coverage on open expression at Emory was a finalist for the General News Reporting (small) award. Former Editor-in-Chief Sophia Peyser (25C) was one of the many reporters to cover open expression at Emory during 2024. In April 2024, Peyser and Friedland wrote a breaking news article on people spray-painting messages across buildings on Emory’s campus. Peyser said that the Wheel had many articles that she thought were impactful across 2024.
“We had a crazy long list of all the stories we wanted to submit, just because it was such a news heavy year, and we had so much, so many good breaking news stories,” Peyser said.
Peyser believed that the Wheel’s timeliness and willingness to report on breaking news contributed to the wins.
“We were the first people who were reporting on it, before the AJC, before CNN, before any of those publications,” Peyser said. “We were there reporting from campus. Being willing to really get close to the story and understand it fully and break news efficiently and quickly and accurately was part of what went into that reward.”
Discussing her time at the Wheel, Peyser expressed gratitude for those she worked with and the dedication contributors put into the paper over her tenure.
“I'm so proud and I'm so happy that our really, really hard work paid off,” Peyser said.
