May 7, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Paul Bittick
General Manager, Mustang Daily
805-756-2537; pbittick@calpoly.edu
Cal Poly Journalism Student Named a Top Collegiate Journalist
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Cal Poly student Lauren Rabaino was named one of the nation’s top 100 student journalists by UWIRE, a college student media organization. She was recognized for implementing innovative platforms while excelling in traditional journalism.
Rabaino was selected from more than 825 nominations from more than 135 schools. Nominations were submitted by working professionals, students and educators.
As online editor for Cal Poly’s Mustang Daily, Rabaino led a team that earned Online Pacemaker Finalist for 2009 in the Associated Collegiate Press competition. The award is considered the highest national award for online college journalism.
Some of the achievements that helped her earn the online award include leading the year-long effort to launch the redesigned Mustang Daily online using open source software. The new design helps the media outlet optimize revenue with prominent ad placement and high visibility graphics. It also features rotating slideshows and increased functionality with a “widgetized” sidebar that connects readers to sites such as Youtube, Facebook and Twitter. To implement the new system, Rabaino hired additional editorial staff, converted news coverage to Web-first protocol and trained reporters on new procedures.
Rabaino has been selected as the first intern for the Center for Innovation in College Media and co-taught a course in video shooting and editing at a journalism conference in San Diego with internship director Bryan Murley, professor of new and emerging media at Eastern Illinois University.
In her second year of college, Rabaino has accumulated enough credits to be recognized as a senior.
To see the new Mustang Daily design, go to: http://mustangdaily.net/
For more information on the implementation of the online site, go to CoPress blog: http://www.copress.org/2009/04/13/behind-the-scenes-of-mustang-dailys-new-wordpress-website/
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