Staff of The Pebble and The Rolling Stone win over 40 ESSPA awards

The staff of the Pebble and The Rolling Stone, MPH’s student publications, won 41 state awards at the Empire State School Press Association Conference at Syracuse University on Oct. 28. The ESSPA awards honor the state’s best scholastic newspapers, yearbooks and literary magazines.

The staff won Gold/All New York, ESSPA’s most prestigious award, for both The Rolling Stone and the Pebble. The Pebble, a full-color magazine that replaced The Rolling Stone newspaper in May 2016, also won Gold for New Publication.

The 2016 awards reflect the students’ work during the 2015-16 school year, during which they published two issues of The Rolling Stone, all the while planning the debut issue of the Pebble. The students won 10 individual gold awards, eight silver, 11 bronze and nine honorable mentions in writing, photography and design.

Eight awards came in the Feature Writing category, capped by gold for Jeongyoon Han, for her story on how international students have adjusted to MPH; Chris Hunter, for his story on MPH’s theater program; and Maja Cannavo, for her story on the dress code.

The staff won four awards for In-Depth Coverage, highlighted by gold for Liam Meisner and Spencer Krywy on the rise of international students in the U.S. and at MPH.

Jeongyoon Han also won gold for Editorial Writing for her column on voting in the upcoming presidential election; for In-Depth coverage, bronze for a story on nutritional labeling; and honorable mention on the foreign-student story.

Suzannah Peckham won gold in Special Topic for her story “Six Words Are All You Need.” She also won three awards in Feature Writing; silvers for a story on MUN’s fundraising plans and for the piece on six-word stories and bronze in the same category for a profile of Mr. Zlomek. She also won silver for the Zlomek story in the Personality/Interview category.

Chris Hunter won gold in Special Topic for his original Mad Libs, titled MPH Libs, the Pebble’s Interactive Department.

Lily Grenis and Maja Cannavo won gold in the News Category for their story on The Rolling Stone’s transition to a magazine.

The creative team of Hyemin Han, Maddy Rieks, Sam Goldman, Spencer Krywy and Chris Hunter won 11 group and individual awards for design, photography and layout, including gold for the Pebble cover and two silvers in the Feature Layout category.

In Designer Portfolio, Maddy Rieks won gold, and Sam Goldman and Hyemin Han each won bronze, and Spencer Krywy won honorable mention.

Chris Hunter won silver in Photography Portfolio for his Advice Column posters. Sam Goldman won honorable mention in that category as well as a bronze in Portrait Photography for his photo of Mr. Zlomek in the Pebble.

The 79th annual ESSPA Awards ceremony was held at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.