The Clarion captured 19 awards, including eight for first-place, in the Wisconsin College Media Association’s Better Newspaper Contest. The awards were presented on April 13, at the Wisconsin Newspaper Association’s annual convention.

Competing against other student newspapers across the state that are published weekly or less frequently, The Clarion won first place in overall general excellence and first place for newspaper website.

Three Clarion staff members won three or more awards at the convention.

Art director, Alexandra Christensen, won first place news photography and first place page design. Christensen took third place in infographic and honorable mention in feature photography. She also joined with Josh Zytkiewicz and Sedgwick Smith Jr. to win honorable mention in use of multimedia.

In addition to the multimedia award, Smith won first-place award and a third-place award in column writing.
Former news editor, Alison Ahlgrim, earned first place in public affairs reporting and third place in freedom of information reporting. She was the newspaper’s nominee for collegiate journalist of the year and finished third in that category.

Photographer, Alfred Davis, took first place in sports photography and joined with Ethan Maurice and Jessica Pokrandt to place third in use of multimedia.

Maurice finished second in the sports reporting competition, while sports editor, Bailey Ayres, earned an honorable mention.

Graphic designer, Kristina Karlen, won two awards in advertising design, finishing second and third in the category.

Finally, The Clarion earned a first-place award for editorial writing. Opinion editor, Brandon Amato, was the lead writer on the winning editorial, while editor, Adrienne Oliva, and managing editor, Lucy Smith, contributed to the effort.