An Advance-Titan editor and an alumna won national Hearst Journalism Awards in 2021-22, while the staff earned 11 awards in a statewide journalism competition during the same period.

Katie Pulvermacher, 2022-23 managing editor and news editor, earned a Hearst in investigative reporting, and alumna Kaitlyn Scoville, now a reporter for the Oshkosh Herald, received a Hearst in feature writing.

Pulvermacher, of  Hartford, was named one of the top 20 winners for her article, “Fredric March, have we misjudged you?,” which centered around the removal of March’s name from UW Oshkosh and UW-Madison campus buildings and the controversy surrounding that decision.

Pulvermacher said she did “heavy research in order to understand and write Fredric March’s full story. I visited sites to understand March’s past and interviewed the people who knew him best. It is important to recognize truth within controversy.”

Scoville, of Ripon, was named one of the top 20 winners in the feature writing category for her article “Odd one out: A

family fights addiction and for each other.”  Her story told Jenna Washuleski’s experience with overcoming a difficult childhood while helping her sisters in their battle against addiction.

 “Her story is one of courage and resilience and was apparent from when I met her for the first time,” Scoville said. “It took several hours over months of preparation and shadowing to truly understand Jenna’s life and translate her work well enough to be understood by the community.”

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program, founded in 1960, is highly competitive, with some of the best-known journalism programs in the country participating.

Advance-Titan adviser Barbara Benish said she was proud of both winners.

“Both stories were extremely complicated and took thorough reporting, many sources and detailed writing,” she said. “I know the two went to extraordinary lengths to ensure the stories were accurate, informative and compelling.” 

Sara Steffes Hansen, 2021-22 journalism department chair, said the awards reflect the hard work they put into their writing.

“The Hearst awards are significant because they recognize exceptional student journalists at the national level, she said. The awards “reflect their talent, hard work and journalistic values as storytellers informing the campus and broader Oshkosh community.”

Collegiate newspaper contest

In addition,  The Advance-Titan staff members earned three firsts, three seconds, two thirds and three honorable mentions in the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Foundation’s Collegiate Better Newspaper Contest. The awards were announced over the summer.

First-place awards

Former Managing Editor Amber Brockman took top honors in news photography with her photo series on the Oshkosh Pub Crawl. The judge wrote: “Good action shots that tell the story well.”

Graphic Designer Mallory Knight took top honors in infographic on UW Oshkosh’s work to become carbon neutral, while former Advertising Manager Jon Woodall earned the top award in advertisement. 

Second-place awards

Jacob Link, co-sports editor, took second-place honors in sports reporting for an  article about

football coach Cerroni retiring. The judge wrote: “It’s big news when a coach retires suddenly, but when it’s someone with as storied a career as Cerroni, it’s a tough story to cover, but this author did a wonderful job of bringing in other voices and making it just as much about the coach as it was about his career.”

Nick Morrissey earned second place for his multimedia piece on Indigenous Peoples Day “with great visuals and audio” and former Editor-in-Chief Carter Uslabar earned second for his page design, “Sports: They’re back.”

Third-place awards

The newspaper received third place in General Excellence in Division A. The judge wrote, in part: “Page layout and design were quite good, with great uses of photos and illustrations. I liked the varied issues covered and thought the editing and reporting were solid. All sections of the paper were good, and I liked seeing a variety of voices on the editorial pages.”

2021-22 Editor-in-Chief Cory Sparks took honors in column writing for “Self defense or not? Rittenhouse verdict will likely have lasting impact.” The judge wrote: “Chances are this opinion column will have ample reader appeal and the clarity is fine … I think readers will see his point.” 

April Lee, former A-T photo editor, received honors in news photo for her picture of Gov. Tony Evers at the opening of the Culver Center as a COVID vaccination site.  

Honorable mention awards

Former graphic designer Amanda Hollander earned honors for her COVID-19 statistics graphic, while incoming Editor-in-Chief  Owen Peterson received honors for his page design emphasizing

how big a number 500,000 COVID deaths are.

Benish said she is proud of the entire staff for all the awards.

“The Advance-Titan staff continually impresses me with their dedication to put out a timely and interesting newspaper each week. This year’s winners went above and beyond in creating not only interesting and engaging articles, but also graphics, page designs, videos and photos that that were not only attractive, but also helped tell a particular story. The entire staff also deserves credit for taking third place in General Excellence for schools larger than 10,000 students. That is a real testament to everyone’s hard work.”

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