{"id":23517,"date":"2022-05-25T13:52:40","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T17:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2022\/05\/25\/necc-observer-wins-gold-medal-from-columbia-scholastic-press-association\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T15:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:33:13","slug":"necc-observer-wins-gold-medal-from-columbia-scholastic-press-association","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2022\/05\/25\/necc-observer-wins-gold-medal-from-columbia-scholastic-press-association\/","title":{"rendered":"NECC Observer Wins Gold Medal from Columbia Scholastic Press Association"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Haverhill, MA (May 25, 2022) &#8211; Northern Essex Community College\u2019s student newspaper, the NECC Observer, was awarded a gold medal from the <a href=\"https:\/\/cspa.columbia.edu\/\">Columbia Scholastic Press Association<\/a> for work published during the 2020-2021 school year. During this time the student newspaper did not have a print edition because of the pandemic and stories were posted solely to the <a href=\"https:\/\/observer.necc.edu\/\">website.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The judges wrote that the Observer should be proud of what the staff accomplished under such difficult circumstances during the pandemic.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_25347\" style=\"width: 356px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/05\/isaandjose-scaled.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-25347\" class=\"wp-image-25347 \" src=\"http:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/isaandjose-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"346\" height=\"259\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-25347\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Current Editor-in-Chief\/Sports Editor Jose Rodriguez of Lawrence and former Editor-in-Chief Isa Grullon of Lawrence in the Observer newsroom .<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The Observer was also awarded a gold medal for its work during the 2019-2020 school year, when it was also all online. The newspaper had the additional distinction of All Columbia Honors for receiving an exceptionally high judging score that year.<\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0NECC Observer\u00a0is a consistently award-winning student newspaper, but the award feels particularly impactful during the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Faculty adviser Mary Jo Shafer says she is proud of all the students who contributed to the Observer, especially former Editor-in-Chief Isa Grullon of Lawrence. Grullon is now pursuing her bachelor\u2019s degree at UMass Boston.<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 1925, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/cspa.columbia.edu\/\">CSPA<\/a>\u00a0unites student editors and faculty advisers working with them to produce student newspapers, magazines, yearbooks and online media.\u00a0CSPA\u00a0is owned by Columbia University and operated as a program affiliated with its Graduate School of Journalism.<\/p>\n<p>The NECC Observer is an award-winning newspaper published by NECC journalism students.<\/p>\n<p>The NECC Observer staff works to inform the college community, including students, faculty, and staff. The Observer also serves as a public forum for the Haverhill and Lawrence campuses and accepts letters and guest columns from the college community.<\/p>\n<p>The NECC Observer is funded by the college\u2019s Academic Affairs division, and the newspaper staff receives its training in the college\u2019s\u00a0Journalism\/Communication\u00a0Program. Journalism\/Communications Program Coordinator Mary Jo Shafer, an adjunct instructor, serves as faculty adviser to the newspaper.<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about\u00a0NECC\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/learn\/credit-programs\/communication-arts\/liberal-arts-journalismcommunication\/\">Journalism\/Communications<\/a> program\u00a0visit the website or reach out to <a href=\"mailto:admissions@necc.mass.edu\">admissions@necc.mass.edu<\/a>, 978 556-3700.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Haverhill, MA (May 25, 2022) &#8211; Northern Essex Community College\u2019s student newspaper, the NECC Observer, was awarded a gold medal from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association for work published during [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":23518,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18,20],"tags":[351,381,471,585],"class_list":["post-23517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlight","category-students","tag-journalism","tag-liberal-arts","tag-observer","tag-students"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - 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