At the College Media Association’s annual conference earlier this month, the Arrow brought home the David L. Adams Apple Award. On March 12, Southeast’s student news organization was named as Best Newspaper of Four year Schools with over 10,000 Students.

Arrow editor-in-chief Nathan Gladden said he appreciates the award for both the prestige and recognition for Arrow staff members. As the team’s manager, he oversees production of both digital and print products.

“It was rewarding, not just as the editor, but it was rewarding to see someone recognize all the work my staff does on a monthly basis at the paper,” Gladden said. “You don’t always think about what you’re doing with the paper, because it’s work at the time, but you try to make it the best you can.”

The three first papers of the spring 2022 semester were considered in the judging of the contest. Gladden said while he didn’t recognize those three editions as unique at the time, he can now see a theme of newsworthiness and design.

“Going into each of these papers, I didn’t think there was anything special,” Gladden said. “But looking back, you can see a difference from the semester before.”

News and culture editor Jasmine Jones attended the March conference in New York City. Jones said she was shocked when the Arrow was announced as the winner.

“I was really proud of all the hard work our team had put in, because we had some really great stories and put some really great design into those papers,” Jones said. “I think we all are more comfortable with design now. We have a layout that looks really nice and know how to arrange our stories in a way that competes really well against other schools.”

The College Media Association’s annual conference was held at the Marriott Marquis hotel in New York City from March 9 through March 12.