This year, The Signal staff doubled the number of awards they won last year for the New Jersey Press Foundation’s College Newspaper Contest. The student newspaper at TCNJ won six awards with four of them being first place and were presented with plaques and certificates at a luncheon on April 26.
The award recipients include:
First Place
- Liz Ciocher – Rewriting the ‘Trash Chute’ narrative: The untold story of John Fiocco Jr.
- Isabella Darcy – Alcohol-related calls to TCNJ Campus Police rise to pre-pandemic numbers
- Victoria Gladstone – ‘Be Kind 4 Michael’: TCNJ staff member honors late son by spreading painted rocks around campus
- Andre Paras, Isabella Darcy, Tristan Weisenbach, Ally Uhlendorf – Trump executive orders could impact TCNJ policies and programs
Second Place
- Andre Paras – WTSR Underground brings local indie music scene to TCNJ
Third Place
- Sky Pinkett – TCNJ Art Gallery features modern interpretations of an ancient art form: Chinese calligraphy
The Signal’s first ever video editor, Andre Paras ’28, won a first and second place award.
“Getting recognition just as a freshman from the NJ Press Foundation has been awesome,” Paras said.
The first place video story “Trump executive orders could impact TCNJ policies and programs,” which was created alongside Isabella Darcy ’26, Tristan Weisenbach ’25, and Ally Uhlendorf ’26 was The Signal’s first video story ever created.
“This idea of students’ education being put at risk felt like an important story for us to tell as journalists,” Paras said. Paras, who is a Communication Studies major with a specialization in mass media and social media, said before this semester, he did not really consider doing journalism after graduation. “But this recognition has made me wonder if video journalism could be a path for me in the future,” he said.
Darcy, who serves as managing editor, also received a first place award for her first investigative story about alcohol-related calls to TCNJ Campus Police rising to pre-pandemic numbers. “It feels gratifying to be recognized by the NJ Press Foundation,” Darcy said. “I’m so glad that the dedicated journalists I have had the pleasure of working with are receiving some well-deserved recognition.”
Darcy said everyone on the editorial board has a thirst for publishing hard-hitting stories and she hopes that the momentum continues. “I am lucky to have a talented team beside me, and I have truly been inspired by our current editors and editors who I previously worked with,” Darcy said.
Victoria Gladstone ’25 said she is extremely honored to win first place for her story “‘Be Kind 4 Michael’: TCNJ staff member honors late son by spreading painted rocks around campus.” She said writing the story was extremely impactful and validated the level of importance this story is to the TCNJ community.
“Mental health awareness is so important to me and my peers so I was really appreciative of the opportunity to write this story,” Gladstone said. Gladstone, who is graduating this May, said she is proud of everyone on The Signal for their accomplishments this awards season.
“Getting to celebrate all of The Signal’s awards was a great way to wrap up the end of my college career at TCNJ,” Gladstone said. “I am looking forward to the future of The Signal and I know there’s more great things to come.”
– Emilia Calabrese ’27