The Daily Aztec once again took home the award for the best college newspaper in the Society of Professional Journalists San Diego Pro Chapter’s annual journalism contest, continuing a tradition of excellence in collegiate journalism at San Diego State. 

Several current and former staffers received second and third place honors in the newscast, photo and sports story categories in the College Media Division. 

The Daily Aztec Live received second place in the newscast category for its Nov. 8 episode. The broadcast broke the news of President de la Torre’s decision to suspend all 14 IFC-affiliated chapters after an incident after a chapter party hospitalized a student. This was the beginning of The Daily Aztec’s coverage of the death of first-year student Dylan Hernandez. 

Produced by former live producer Jack Molmud, this episode of The Daily Aztec Live was anchored by Alexa Oslowski, Angela Kurysh, Kyle Betz and Aaron Tolentino. 

 In the sports photography category, photographer Sam Mayo earned a third-place award for his photo of SDSU Men’s basketball guard Malachi Flynn taking the winning shot against San Jose State on Dec. 8 to preserve the Aztec’s undefeated 10-0 record. 

Cristian Alvarez, a former senior staff writer,  also took home a third-place sports award for his SDSU men’s soccer story on then-junior midfielder Keegan Kelly’s comeback after multiple injuries. 

Several Daily Aztec alumni took home professional awards including former Editors in Chief Bella Ross (inewsource), Will Fritz (Temecula Valley News) and Andrew Dyer (San Diego Union-Tribune) as well as former editors Adriana Heldiz (Voice of San Diego) and Kayla Jimenez (Voice of San Diego) and former senior staff writer Lauren J. Mapp (San Diego Union-Tribune). 

Congratulations to all those recognized!