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Dora Totoian, 2019-20 Beacon Opinion Editor and reporter, has won one of two annual Snowden Ethics Awards, given each year to select interns in the Charles Snowden Program for Excellence in Journalism. The Snowden program, named after a former editor of The Oregonian and Oregon Journal, places young journalists in paid summer internships in media organizations around Oregon.
Journalistic ethics are a main focus of the competitive Snowden program, which is based at the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon. The summer internship program accepts applications from students from any Oregon college or university who have completed a basic reporting course or worked at a campus publication. (Dora started as a reporter at The Beacon her freshman year.)
During her internship, Dora worked as a reporter at the News-Register in McMinnville, where she managed to (safely!) cover a wide variety of stories including the COVID-19 pandemic at a local level, wildfires, protests and politics. Infused in the daily challenge of reporting on community events and issues are ethical case studies that require Snowden interns to reflect on issues journalists confront in their work.
No one who worked with Dora at The Beacon would be surprised that among the 18 Snowden interns, Dora stood out for her ethical practices and reflections.
Below is video of the announcement of her award, which, due to the pandemic, occurred at a virtual reception on Zoom. Typically, this event is a catered affair at the UO Agora Journalism Center in downtown Portland.
Hear what UO Associate Professor of Journalism and Snowden Program Co-Coordinator Nicole Dahmen said about Dora:
“Her writing was excellent, her thought process and ethical reasoning were solid. In addition, she raised ethical questions for us to consider and think about.”
-Nicole Dahmen, UO journalism professor on Dora Totoian
This was the second time in recent years a Beacon staffer has won the Snowden Ethics Award.
2017-18 Editor-in-Chief Rachel Rippetoe won the award after her Snowden internship at the Eugene Register-Guard during the summer of 2017.
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Update: Kyle Garcia took First Place for Best Sports Column. Dora Totoian took Second Place for Best Editorial. The Beacon engagement efforts led by Natalie Nygren, Ally Weberg, Dora Totoian and Claire Desmarais won an Honorable Mention.
The Beacon is a finalist in three categories in the 2019-20 Pinnacle Awards sponsored by the College Media Association (CMA).
This year for the first time, CMA invited entries for Best Campus Engagement. The Beacon is in the finals along with student media at the University of South Carolina, Texas State University and Southeast Missouri State University.
Engagement encompasses social media, crowdsourcing, events and other ways The Beacon interacts with the UP community. With the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down campus last spring, audience engagement was even more challenging. But Beacon leadership rose to the occasion, leaning in to the virtual landscape.
Below is a summary of The Beacon’s 2019-20 engagement efforts led by Natalie Nygren, Ally Weberg, Claire Desmarais and Dora Totoian.
2019-2020 Opinion Editor Dora Totian is a Pinnacle finalist for Best Editorial. Other finalists in that category are from the University of Alabama, California State University – Fullerton and Auburn University.
Last year’s Sports Editor Kyle Garcia is up for Best Sports Column. Other finalists come from the University of Miami, UCLA, University of Pennsylvania and University of Kentucky.
CMA will announce the Pinnacle winners Oct. 23.
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As we head into a new and historic academic year, here’s a round-up of the most recent awards The Beacon won in 2019-20.
A photo by Beacon photographer Jennifer Ng won First Place for Breaking News Photography nationwide in the Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards. The Beacon competed against student publications at colleges and universities with fewer than 10,000 students.
Jennifer’s winning photo was shot during the massive Climate Strike demonstration in downtown Portland last fall.
Photographer Annika Gordon, who has won many awards for her photography, won a national award for opinion writing: First Place Gold Circle Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association for her personal commentary, “I’m racist, so are you. White people, let’s improve.”
Those were just two of many awards Beacon staffers recently won for their work in those two contests. The Beacon also won:
Third Place (nationally) for Best University Student Publication in the 2020 Catholic Press Association Media Awards.
Best Website for four-year colleges/universities in the annual competition sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Association of Journalism Educators (PNAJE).
Other winners and finalists:
General news reporting –
FIRST PLACE: Madison Pfeifer – “DACA students await Supreme Court Decision”
Finalist- Gabi DiPaulo – “A City Split in two: Students travel to the border wall“
In-depth reporting –
FIRST PLACE: Austin De Dios- “Tuition increases don’t tell the whole story“
Finalist: Dora Totoian- “Diversity and inclusion progress report: INCOMPLETE“
Feature Writing–
FIRST PLACE: Catherine Cieminski- “Curb your enthusiasm: Should you really pet that dog?“
Finalist: Dora Totoian – “Faculty celebrates community and leadership for F-Gen Day”
Finalist: Delaney Vetter- “More than my stature: Navigating life with dwarfism”
Editorial Writing
FIRST PLACE: Dora Totoian, Gabi DiPaulo and Delaney Vetter
Online/Digital Feature Videography-
FIRST PLACE: Elizabeth Lyons-Best- “Behind the Scenes of the Penelopiad“
Breaking News Reporting
Finalist- Madison Pfeiffer- Owen Klinger disappearance and death coverage (collection of articles, updates)
General column writing–
Finalists: Annika Gordon, Dora Tototian, Carlos Fuentes
Sports writing
Finalist- Jamison White: Jacobo Reyes: Broad experience, a steady presence and a tough choice
Finalist- Kyle Garcia: Mary Cain’s slam on Nike sheds light on her year at University of Portland
Sports Column Writing
Finalist- Kyle Garcia and Morgan Wahler
General News Photography
Finalist – Molly Lowney- DACA Candlelight Vigil
Sports Photography
Finalists – Brennan Crowder- Soccer team celebrates after a goal
Online Feature Reporting
Finalist: Ajay Davis, Brennan Crowder, Elizabeth Lyons-Best- “Behind the Scenes of the Penelopiad”
GOLD CIRCLE AWARDS – Columbia Scholastic Press Association
News Writing (Planned News)– THIRD PLACE: Carlos Fuentes, “City Removes Unauthorized Stop Signs”
Video Feature Package– THIRD PLACE– Erica Lavik and Elizabeth Lyons-Best, “Hip Hop Kyle”
Gold Circle certificates of merit:
Breaking News– Madison Pfeifer, “Brush Fires Set Near Campus Considered Suspicious”
Photo Slideshow– Brennan Crowder, “A Pilot’s Inside Look at Indy Car”
Single Feature Photograph– Paula Ortiz Cazaubon, “Tanzanian Children Watch for Mass Wedding”
Interactive Graphic– Austin De Dios, “Analysis: UP Tuition Increases Don’t Tell the Whole Story”
2019-2020 Tuition Increases
Infogram
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Two now-former Beacon staffers who graduated in May are interning as reporters at two Oregon publications this summer.
Former News and Managing Editor Maddie Pfeifer is reporting for The Portland Business Journal.
Former Opinion Editor Dora Totoian, selected through the Charles Snowden Program for Excellence in Journalism, is reporting for the McMinnville News Register.
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The first known direct impact of COVID-19 on the University of Portland hit in late February, when the deadly virus derailed the E-Scholars spring break trip to South Korea and Japan.
The Beacon staff has been hard at work ever since, covering what is now a worldwide pandemic, and has not let up, even though the campus is effectively shut down and classes are online.
All-staff story pitch meetings and the weekly Editorial Board meetings have continued almost seamlessly on Zoom.
Interviews are over the phone, video conference or via email. The editing process, which has been a collaborative online process for years on Google Docs, has also continued with little disruption. The weekly newsletter continues, and is packed with UP-centric coverage related to Covid-19. Likewise, Beacon social media channels continue to provide daily updates.
Opinion editor Dora Totoian did a crowdsourcing project, asking students and faculty for feedback on how online classes were going.
Editor-in-Chief Claire Desmarais created a special landing page on The Beacon website for all Beacon Covid-19 coverage, as well as a private Facebook group for UP students called “Pilots Navigating the New Normal.”
News and Managing Editor Maddie Pfeifer has worked tirelessly leading the ongoing breaking coverage.
The biggest challenge has been photography, since everyone is away from campus and scattered. Yet Beacon photographers have been creative with photo illustrations and file photos, and have solicited photo submissions from readers and other sources.
Our video producer, Taylor Ursulum, who lives in Hawaii, produced this video on quarantine grocery shopping.
Claire was recently quoted in a Portland State University Vanguard article about how student newspapers are rising to the occasion:
Claire Desmarais, editor in chief of The Beacon, stated, “a large part of our reporting and how we obtain information comes from having established relationships with club leaders, faculty/staff, students and the administration. We use social media and word-of-mouth to find pieces of information, and then go on to confirm that information with sources on the record.”
Below is a sampling of screenshots of some of the coverage so far.
UP’s (virtual) graduation on May 3 will mark the official end of Beacon publishing for this academic year. But, after interviewing applicants on Zoom, incoming Editor-in-Chief Gabi DiPaulo has already hired the 2020-21 Beacon staff. Here’s hoping for a healthy, safe and calmer fall semester.
-Nancy Copic, Ass’t Director for Student Media & adviser to The Beacon
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Hello, this is Fiona. I am one of the news reporters who went to New York for the College Media Association 2020 conference in Times Square. Though some of the events of the conference itself were canceled, I still got a lot out of it that I can take back home and apply to my work at the Beacon.
Though I have spent a lot of time in New York with my family, I learned to look at the city with a whole new eye. I saw how important it is for journalism and learned to appreciate how much information comes and goes from the city. We walked past many important sites for journalism including CNN, Fox News, ABC, NBC and CBS. These are things you see on TV and in newspapers, and it felt very cool to be learning about journalism in the center of it all.
On the second day, we were lucky enough to meet with a UP and Beacon alum at CNN Clare Duffy, where she writes for their business and tech section. I really appreciated meeting with Clare, she had an incredible drive and demeanor. She worked extremely hard to get where she is today, at CNN. It gave me motivation for networking and to continue writing more and more stories.
We were also able to meet with another UP and Beacon alum, Malika Andrews, who works for ESPN now. The day before we met with her, she had broken on Sports Center that the NBA was suspending all play because of the corona virus. Right after she met with us, she had to leave to record another interview for Sports Center. I learned from Malika how important it is to stay connected with all of your contacts in journalism. Ideally, if they feel comfortable with you, they will give you more information.
At the conference, my favorite session was from two professors at the University of Florida who are making a podcast about information deserts. Since I have made podcasts with the Beacon, it was really interesting listening to their process and getting tips and tricks. They stressed how important it is to have a clean sound with no background noises so that listeners stay tuned-in for the whole podcast. Most notably, from their presentation, they talked about the access of public records online and how that can give reporters the upper-hand. I found this really interesting, and a helpful tool that I could use if I was not getting enough information from my sources.
I also really enjoyed another session on diversity and inclusion. A student from a different school asked a question about how to make a diverse paper without a diverse student population. The panel answered to go out into the community and get more from them to make it diverse, and to just cover the minority populations as much as possible. I thought this applied very well to UP and the Beacon, and was a great reminder that we should always be mindful of inclusivity.
I really enjoyed my time in New York with the Beacon, despite a few road blocks. I am thankful we got this opportunity, and I hope to return again soon!
Fiona O’Brien
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