The Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) announced the winners for their 39th and 40th Gold Circle Awards program. The awards recognize individuals at the national level in several categories. The 2022 recognition attracted 4,224 applicants in the print news and print magazine categories and the 2023 recognition attracted 4,051 applicants in the yearbook and digital media categories. 

Alumna Lucia Gabel was awarded an honorable mention for ‘Typography: The look of one page or spread’ in the 2022 print news category for her newspaper page “Substance Abuse & the Brain.” 

Sophomore Jumana Alsaadoon was also awarded an honorable mention for ‘In-depth news or feature story’ in the 2023 digital media category for her news brief “Supreme Court leak spurs discussion.” Alsaadoon was excited that this recognition meant being able to help get more voices heard from the protest.  

“It feels great to know that the story was read by more people and someone thinks that it deserves an honorable mention. I’m also excited to know that I contributed to the stories of the high school student protesters and the JMU protesters being heard, which is a big deal for me as a student journalist,” Alsaadoon said. “I’m looking forward to writing more stories in the future and uplifting the voices of people in our community to the best of my ability.”