This story originally appeared in The Vantage student newspaper April 17, 2025. The “Reflecting with an award winner” section has been added by university staff.
Written by: Denise Neil, adviser
I’ve been the adviser for The Vantage, Newman’s weekly student newspaper, for 15 years, and never in all that time has the staff been so small.
Never, in all that time, has the staff consisted almost entirely of students from majors other than communication.
And yet never, in all that time, has The Vantage staff managed to win the coveted All-Kansas Award at the Kansas Collegiate Journalism conference three years in a row.
But on Monday, that’s exactly what this year’s small-but-mighty staff achieved. For the third consecutive year, it was named the top four-year private college newspaper in the state, an award that includes a plaque and well-earned bragging rights.
Led by Victor Dixon and Matthew Fowler — two students who have no intention of becoming journalists but who happened upon The Vantage booth at Newman’s involvement fair before their freshman year — the core staff of six Newman journalists took home the contest’s top prize as well as many individual awards: Dixon, the paper’s editor-in-chief, won 10 — including two first-place nods for headline writing and front page design — followed by managing editor Fowler, who got four awards, one of which was first place in news writing for a story about Newman’s former pothole problem. The Dixon/Fowler duo also shared an award for headline writing.
Other winners were photo editor Dannicka McGrath, who earned three individual photography awards, and sports writer Grace Long, who won two awards, one of which was a first place in sports writing. Two former Vantage writers, Ana Zeikidze and Allison Hernadez, got one award each.
Another exciting development at the awards ceremony: Four students that last semester were enrolled in Intro to Journalism and had stories they’d written as class assignments published in The Vantage, also won awards: Jacob Brown, Avery Grunert and Abigail VanNatta, who won first place in the profile-writing category for a story she wrote about Sister Therese Wetta.
The conference wasn’t just about awards, though. The Vantage staff also spent two days in sessions led by professional journalists and picked up knowledge on topics like good photography, how to responsibly use artificial intelligence in journalism, and how to cover the growing attack on diversity, equity and inclusion policies on college campuses. These are skills they’ll bring back to campus to help make the student paper even stronger.
This year’s Vantage staff impresses me not only because it manages to do so much with so little but also because its members understand the important role journalists play in a democratic society. Despite their busy academic schedules and involvement in other Newman activities, they still strive every week to get answers to questions students are asking, to highlight the achievements of Newman students and faculty, and to bring important campus issues to light.
I hope that you will congratulate these student journalists if you see them. I hope you will thank them for the time and care they put into their work. And I also hope you will consider joining them on the staff.
Even if you aren’t planning a career in journalism, you’d be doing important and meaningful work.
And it’s not not fun to win awards, either.
Future physician writes with heart
Long, a sophomore biology major, has served on The Vantage staff for two years, steadily honing her storytelling skills along the way.
Her story “Cross country coach will retire after 23 years at Newman” received an honorable mention at the media conference, while her story “Both Newman golf teams teed up for success as season ends” won first place in sports game/news writing among private four-year universities in Kansas.
“These awards mean so much to me,” Long said. “It’s a lot of work to churn out stories each week. It feels nice to be recognized for something that I have worked really hard for. However, while the awards are nice, I also find it rewarding to write stories about people who deserve credit for a job well done.”
As a future physician’s assistant, Long sees a clear connection between her passion for medicine and her experience in student journalism. Both fields, she said, require strong communication and research in order to serve others.
“I think most people believe that journalism is a dying field,” Long said. “However, with this conference, I learned that many students are passionate and excited to make a difference in the profession. I learned that journalism is a great skill to have and needed in our society.”
Justice meets journalism
Dixon, a sophomore criminal justice major, has three semesters of experience as the editor-in-chief. During that time, he has been recognized with numerous awards — particularly for his work in 2024.
He won first place in the headline writing category for “Rom-coms, I missed you. Don’t ever leave me again” and for front page design in January 2024; second place in review writing for “Payment confusion overshadows coffee shop opening” and in front page design for February 2024; and third place in headline writing for “Men’s bowling season is anywhere but in the gutter,” profile writing for “Newman professor searching for alien life” and for front page design in October 2024.
He also received honorable mentions for his stories, “Sacred Heart Hall Makeover is now underway,” “What campus looks like from an LGBT perspective,” “Needlessly gendered award should catch up to the times” and “SGA has money to spend, but how much exactly?”
“The awards mean that all the work that my staff and I are doing every week is worth it, and that people other than those who are right next to me truly see it,” Dixon said. “It means that the grind and the struggle is recognized and the spirit of journalism is still alive on Newman’s campus.”
For Dixon, the Kansas Collegiate Journalism conference was a reminder that other college publications may also struggle, but the Vantage staff isn’t alone.
“Now we have a lot of friends at other schools who we can reach out to for support,” he said. “I want to thank the Newman community for reading and appreciating our stories and making everything worthwhile and possible in the first place.”
Find the latest stories from The Vantage
The Vantage is the student newspaper at Newman University. It’s published weekly, and new issues of the newspaper appear on campus every Thursday during the semester.
