This February marked the one-year anniversary of The Daily Iowan acquisition of the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun and the Solon Economist. As part of this endeavor, SJMC and the DI embarked on an exciting news-academic partnership that sought to provide hands-on journalism experience for SJMC students while supporting community journalism. In this past year, we started a community news internship program and now have three interns working at the papers, incorporated the papers into SJMC classes, including a dedicated Community News capstone taught by Erin Jordan and Ty Rushing, and launched a class for covering high school athletics in these communities and publishing the work in local outlets. We’ve been actively sharing our story and seeking external funding to support and grow this initiative.
Erin Jordan and Ty Rushing with SJMC student visiting Solon and Mt. Vernon
The investment is paying off. The papers received well-deserved recognition at the 2025 Iowa Newspaper of the Year Awards. The Economist won General Excellence as the best small weekly paper in the state, and the Sun placed third in General Excellence in mid-sized weeklies. SJMC student and community news intern Joel Kellar won two first-place awards for his coverage of Solon’s softball team. He also earned two second-place awards for photos published in the Sun and a third-place award for sports feature published in the Economist. Congratulations to Joel!
Joel Kellar at the Iowa Newspaper Awards
The Daily Iowan had a stellar night at the awards and was named Iowa’s 2025 Newspaper of the Year. The award is presented to the publication that accumulates the most points from placing first, second, or third in individual contests. Notable first-place finishes for the DI include Coverage of Government and Politics, Best Front Page, and Best Sports Section. Congratulations to the DI on this huge honor!
The Daily Iowan team at the 2025 Iowa Newspaper Awards
SJMC also hosted a Journalism Careers Speed Networking event earlier this month. At the event, 18 students met with 18 news professionals for short one-on-one meetings. The event featured representatives from The Gazette, Iowa Public Radio, and KCCI, among others.
Journalism Careers Speed Networking Event
We are also hard at work planning our new experiential learning program and requirement: SCRIPT. The SCRIPT requirement will start in Fall 2025 and will ensure that all JMC majors have at least one experiential-learning opportunity in addition to their capstone course. Students can choose to Study aboard, complete a Community-engaged course, participate in Research, complete an Internship, engage in Professional practice, or serve as an undergraduate Teaching assistant. SJMC supports these opportunities through new course development, funding for courses, scholarships for study abroad and internships, and paid positions for teaching assistants. If you’re interested in learning more about how to support these opportunities, please reach out.
If you have a story to share, please send it to sjmc@uiowa.edu.
Melissa Tully, Director
