The Hustler won a total of 23 awards this year at MediaFest, including 19 College Media Association Awards and four Associated College Press Awards. MediaFest is the largest gathering of college journalists and advisers in the country and is sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists, CMA and ACP.
The Hustler’s General Newsletter, which reaches more than 30,000 members of the Vanderbilt community, won second place from the CMA Pinnacle Awards. Former News Editor Alison Winters (B.A. ’25) received an Honorable Mention for Reporter of the Year.
Former News Beat Head Lexi Abrams (B.A. ’25), Beat Reporter Arman Amin, sophomore Ella Glodek, Photography Editor George Albu and junior Lindsay Cohen won an Honorable Mention for Series for their work on “‘Rolling with the punches’: Professors and students react to 1100-student US Elections class,” “Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visits US Elections class,” “Senator Mitch McConnell and former Senator Lamar Alexander visit US Elections class,” “Students react to 2024 presidential election results” and “Vandy Votes hosts Ballotpalooza.”
The Vanderbilt Review also won second place for the CMA Pinnacle Award for Literary Magazine of the Year.
News
Tasfia Alam (B.A. ’25), Winters, former Editorial Director Brina Ratangee (B.A. ’24) and Senior Adviser Rhea Patney were awarded third place for Multimedia News Story for “How Vanderbilt’s Kirkland Hall sit-in and encampment influenced last semester’s wave of pro-Palestine protests.” They also received second place for the News Multimedia Package award. Graphics Editor Lexie Perez won third place for Photo Illustration for her work in the same article.
Patney and Ratangee were awarded second place for Coverage of Diversity for their work on the article “First-year racial diversity drops 21% following affirmative action ban.”
Editor-in-Chief Jacob Stoebner and Deputy News Editor Swarada Kulkarni received an Honorable Mention for General News Multimedia Coverage for their article “Vanderbilt remains No. 18 in US News rankings, chancellor criticizes methodology.”
Photography
Miguel Beristain (B.A. ’25) received first place for News Photo Package and former Sports Editor Aiden Rutman got first place for Sports Column. Junior Royce Yang won third place for Feature Photo for the photo he took of workers completing excavations near FirstBank Stadium.
Photography Editor George Albu got an Honorable Mention for General News Photo for his photograph of a man holding signs at the Stand Up for Science demonstration at the Tennessee State Capitol in March this year.
Graphics
Sophomore Felix Koontz got second place for Interactive/Motion Infographic for his graphic showing the various construction sites on campus in “FutureVU Construction continues on campus, Highland Chilled Water Plant nears completion.”
Perez received an Editorial Illustration honorable mention for her graphic in “FAWCETT: Go find a hobby” that depicts a collage of items, including running, boxing and art.
Junior Coco Louie, Katherine Oung (B.A. ’25), senior Subha Mostafiz, Patney and Stoebner won first place for Interactive Graphic for “Class of 2024: Senior Survey” that includes data from the Class of 2024 on demographics, college life, politics, lifestyle and post-grad.
Sophomore Ram Martinez got an Honorable Mention for Editorial Cartoon for his cartoon in the article “WILLIAMS: When was America so great?” The cartoon shows a debate between former president Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. The second panel depicts former Vice President Kamala Harris and President Donald Trump yelling and shouting expletives at each other.
Sports
Sports Editor Henry Oelhafen and Rutman were awarded an Honorable Mention for Multimedia Sports Story for their article on Vanderbilt football’s 2024-25 transfer portal tracker.
Rutman and former Editor-in-Chief Barrie Barto placed third for Sports Newsletter.
First-year Dylan Tovitz received an Honorable Mention for Investigative Sports Story for his critique on Vanderbilt Baseball’s outdated philosophy.
Podcasts
Former Podcasts Editor Jaylan Sims received an honorable mention for Short Documentary for “Hustler Doc: After the Ash,” which follows a survivor of a Leilani Estates eruption.
Data
Former Deputy Data Editor Nathaniel Morrin and Oung got an Honorable Mention for Feature Multimedia Package for their work in the “Class of 2028 First Year Survey,” an annual survey that collects data from first-year students to better understand what defines them as a class. The survey includes data about demographics, high school, admissions, college life, politics and lifestyle.
Life
Ratangee was awarded an Honorable Mention for Profile Story for “‘Unconditional love’: Remembering Dean K.C. Potter.” Potter was the former dean of residential and judicial affairs, and the K.C. Potter Center for LGBTQI Life is named after him.
Opinion
Junior Jason Vadnos received an Honorable Mention for Column for his article “VADNOS: Civil discourse shouldn’t come at the expense of student activism.” Vadnos argues that Vanderbilt must recognize the necessity of activism and discourse.
Full list of awards
ACP Individual Awards
Interactive Graphic – First Place: “Class of 2024 Senior Survey” by Coco Louie, Subha Mostafiz, Katherine Oung, Rhea Patney and Jacob Stoebner
Multimedia News Story – Third Place: “How Vanderbilt’s Kirkland Hall sit-in and encampment influenced last semester’s wave of pro-Palestine protests” by Tasfia Alam, Alison Winters, Brina Ratangee and Rhea Patney
Multimedia Sports Story – Honorable Mention: “Vanderbilt Football 2024-25 transfer portal tracker” by Henry Oelhafen and Aiden Rutman
Reporter of the Year – Honorable Mention: Alison Winters
CMA Pinnacle Awards
News Photo Package – First Place: “Local students, community members rally against President Trump, Project 2025 during nationwide day of protests” by Miguel Beristain
Sports Column – First Place: Aiden Rutman and Barrie Barto
Interactive/Motion Infographic – Second Place: Felix Koontz
Coverage of Diversity – Second Place: “First-year class racial diversity drops 21% following affirmative action ban” by Rhea Patney and Brina Ratangee
News Multimedia Package – Second Place: “How Vanderbilt’s Kirkland Hall sit-in and encampment influenced last semester’s wave of pro-Palestine protests” by Tasfia Alam, Alison Winters, Brina Ratangee and Rhea Patney
General Newsletter – Second Place: Barrie Barto
Photo Illustration – Third Place: Lexie Perez
Feature Photo – Third Place: Royce Yang
Sports Newsletter – Third Place: Aiden Rutman and Barrie Barto
Editorial Illustration – Honorable Mention: Nathaniel Morrin, Katherine Oung and Coco Louie
Short Documentary – Honorable Mention: “Hustler Doc: After the Ash” by Jaylan Sims
Feature Multimedia Package – Honorable Mention: “Class of 2028: The First Year Survey” by Nathaniel Morrin, Katherine Oung and Coco Louie
Profile Story – Honorable Mention: “‘Unconditional love’: Remembering Dean K.C. Potter” by Brina Ratangee
Series – Honorable Mention: “‘Rolling with the punches’: Professors and students react to 1100-student US Elections class,” “Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visits US Elections class,” “Senator Mitch McConnell and former Senator Lamar Alexander visit US Elections class,” “Students react to 2024 presidential election results” and “Vandy Votes hosts Ballotpalooza” by Lexi Abrams, Arman Amin, Ella Glodek, George Albu and Lindsay Cohen
General News Multimedia Coverage – Honorable Mention: “Vanderbilt remains No. 18 in US News rankings, chancellor criticizes methodology” by Jacob Stoebner and Swarada Kulkarni
General News Photo – Honorable Mention: George Albu
Editorial Cartoon – Honorable Mention: Ram Martinez
Column – Honorable Mention: “VADNOS: Civil discourse shouldn’t come at the expense of student activism” by Jason Vadnos
Investigative Sports Story – Honorable Mention: “Vanderbilt built a baseball dynasty, but its hitting philosophy is now holding it back” by Dylan Tovitz
