The Scarlet & Black Celebrates a Record-Breaking Year

Published:

February 26, 2024

Anika Jane Beamer ’22

A closeup of the front page of the Scarlet and Black newspaper, while newspaper staff discuss the issue in the background.

The Scarlet & Black is the independent student newspaper of Grinnell College and the recipient of the 2023 Overall News and Multimedia Excellence Award from the Iowa College Media Association.

The Grinnell College Scarlet & Black recently swept the Iowa College Media Association (ICMA) awards, winning 19 individual awards to earn the 2023 Overall News and Multimedia Excellence Award. In their third year receiving ICMA nominations, the student newspaper has more than doubled their previous record for individual awards. S&B Co-Editors in Chief Eleanor Corbin ’24 and Nick El Hajj ’24 reflected on the newspaper’s accomplishments and the unseen work that drives its success.

‘A Testament to the Team’

Corbin and El Hajj both joined the S&B as staff writers at the start of their second year. They rose in the ranks to become editors for various paper sections — hearing pitches, assigning stories, and reviewing their writers’ articles as well as writing their own. At the end of the 2022–23 school year, outgoing S&B editors in chief hired Corbin and El Hajj to fill their shoes.

For the last year, they’ve sacrificed huge amounts of time to the position. Each week, the S&B staff turns around a complete print and digital newspaper covering topics from campus events and opinions to state politics and profiles of community members. “We’re there from the conception of the paper on Sunday afternoon, and we’re the ones setting it on tables everywhere around campus and the community every Monday morning,” says Corbin.

I think it’s definitely a testament to the team we have at the moment and the relentless pursuit of very interesting beats we’ve had this past year.

Nick El Hajj ’24

“As a team, we’ve been pooling all of our resources, functioning as an organism, and trying to pump out the best journalism we can,” says El Hajj. Of the ICMA honor, he says, “I think it’s definitely a testament to the team we have at the moment and the relentless pursuit of very interesting beats we’ve had this past year. It’s nice to see that recognized.”

Students gather around a table and review print newspaper copies. — The *S&B* editorial team reviews the prior week’s publication before getting started on layout for the upcoming edition. Pictured center are **Khanh Do ’27 (**visuals editor), Eleanor Corbin ’24 (co-editor in chief), and **Mohammad Igbaria ’24** (sports editor).

Student Run, Student Written

The S&B’s sweep at the ICMA Awards is made sweeter by their sense of self-reliance. “We are fully independent, fully student run. We’ve been that way for the past over a hundred years,” says El Hajj. While some schools competing for ICMA awards have journalism courses through which students can write for weekly papers, “The S&B is an independent staff that only produces work from within itself,” says Corbin. “I think we feel a lot more proud of our win because we don’t have any journalism professors or journalism departments to help contribute to this paper.”

The only non-student involved with the paper is Lyle Muller, a retired Iowa career journalist. Muller isn’t affiliated with the college; rather he’s contracted as the newspaper’s professional advisor. It is Muller who nominates S&B work for the ICMA awards each year.

Two male students lean over a laptop, engaged in discussion. — **Mohammad Igbaria ’24** (left), the *S&B* sports editor, and Nick El Hajj ’24, co-editor in chief (right) review content at the newspaper’s weekly layout meeting.

Expanding the Scope of Community Journalism

Not only has the S&B had a record-setting year, but they’ve also done it with a smaller than usual staff. “Due to funding constraints, we currently are at 32 staff members. Last year it was closer to 45 and it's been that way in previous years as well,” Corbin explains. Despite having to downsize from 15 staff writers to nine, Corbin and El Hajj say they’ve seen viewership skyrocket. “We see our comments go up and we see a lot of praise and it’s very exciting. It’s very energizing and it keeps us going and we see really a tangible impact of the work we do. It’s not just in vain,” says El Hajj.

“I think this year at least, we’ve seen a lot of really, really great support from the student body for us and for student journalism.” Corbin. In part, the editors attribute this support to adopting a more analytics-driven approach. “We’ve been prioritizing getting on beats that would be interesting for people. That’s how we decided to cover the caucuses, for example,” El Hajj explains.

We try to think of how those [issues] are relevant on a statewide or maybe national scale, but also what can we bring to the conversation that every other news outlet is not already bringing the conversation?”

Eleanor Corbin ’24

The S&B doesn’t limit itself to reporting only on the campus community, nor is its readership restricted to that community. “We’re the only digital newspaper in all of Poweshiek County, and we realize that we don’t exist in isolation even here in Grinnell,” says El Hajj. Asked about the scope of S&B reporting, Corbin explains, “We have these larger topics that force us to look outside of the Grinnell community but also reflect back onto the Grinnell community. And so when we think about how we want to cover those issues, we try to think of how they're relevant on a statewide or maybe national scale, but also what can we bring to the conversation that every other news outlet is not already bringing the conversation?”

Grinnell College applauds the Scarlet & Black’s commitment to excellent journalism and congratulates the entire S&B staff on their recent success!