Skip to main content
Student Achievements

Mustang Media Group wins 19 National Awards

Student-run Mustang Media Group won three first-place awards at national contest.

Mustang Media Group, the Cal Poly Journalism Department’s student-run integrated media organization, recently won 19 national awards at the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) and the College Media Association (CMA) virtual awards ceremony. 

The group’s honors included three first-place awards, two second-place awards, one third-place award, and four honorable mentions from the ACP.  The CMA awarded the group two first-place awards, five third-place awards, and one honorable mention.  

“The students at Mustang Media Group have done amazing work all year in all multimedia formats,” said Jon Schlitt, Mustang Media Group general manager. “I’m thrilled to see their efforts from before the onset of the pandemic recognized — and especially pleased to see many of their efforts after the onset of the pandemic recognized. It shows amazing versatility and the ability to put forth nationally recognized work no matter the circumstances and challenges in front of them.”

ACP is a national organization consisting of collegiate journalists and journalism advisers. It has more than 570 members that focus on supporting students and teachers through journalism education and professional development. The awards that Mustang Media Group received from ACP are: 

- First Place, Best Audio Ad — Sylvester’s
- First Place, Best Special Section — Adventure Awaits 
- First Place, Best Rate Card — Steven Nguyen
- Second Place, Best Multimedia Sports Story — Adam Birder
- Second Place, Best Video Advertisement
- Third Place, Best COVID coverage — Samantha Spitz
- Honorable mention, Best Print Ad — Von Balanon
- Honorable mention, Best Newspaper Design Spread — Solena Aguilar
- Honorable mention, Best Interactive Graphic — Lauren Walike
- Honorable mention, Best Breaking News Story — Aidan McGloin

CMA’s Pinnacle Awards focus on honoring various college media organizations and individual projects. All print, broadcast and online outlets that were produced by college media organizations can be entered to win. CMA is a national organization with more than 700 members that help advise collegiate media across the U.S. The awards that Mustang Media Group received from CMA are:

- First Place, Best Special Event Audio Coverage — KCPR
- First Place, Best Video Sportscast
- Third Place, Best Feature Photo
- Third Place, Best Sports Multimedia Story
- Third Place, Best Video Entertainment Program
- Third Place, Best Video Promo
- Third Place, Best In-House Advertisement
- Honorable Mention, Best Newspaper Photo Page Spread 

At the virtual awards ceremony, Mustang Media Group earned the following Best of Show awards:
- First Place, Multimedia News 
- Sixth Place, Website (enrollment higher than 10k)
- Ninth Place, Newspaper (weekly) 
- Ninth Place, Social Justice Reporting

For more information about Mustang Media Group, visit http://www.mustangnews.net/