Incoming University Times Editor and 3rd year PPES student Harper Alderson, was named the recipient of the prestigious Billy Dowling-Reid Award for Outstanding Commitment at the Student Publication Association National Conference (SPANCs) on March 28th.
The Student Publication Awards (SPA), the premier student journalism association encompassing Britain and Ireland, was held on Saturday, March 28th and included 26 categories, with Alderson being the only student from an Irish university to win an individual award. The University Times as a paper also won Best Website and the Apiary, a literary magazine from Queen’s University Belfast, also brought home the award for Best Specialist Publication for Ireland.
Alderson began her career in student journalism as a writer and by creating the role of Crossword Editor for both the University Times and Trinity News, creating what she jokingly referred to as a “crosswopoly” at the time. She also held the role of Senior Editor. Alderson then moved into the role of Deputy Editor, with a focus on increasing Irish language and Sports coverage, which was done by 40% and 422% respectively. Alderson regularly works long hours, which see her editing and laying out issues until the early hours of the morning and expertly managing the over 400 contributors to the University Times. She has also written the most articles for the publication this year, and participated in and co-organised several events with the University Philosophical Society (Phil) and College Historical Society (Hist). In this year’s Union sabbatical elections, Alderson ran unopposed, winning 91.8% of the vote, the highest ever for the position. In short, her win was unsurprising but far from trivial.
In a statement to the University Times following her win, Alderson stated:
“I am very honoured to receive this award. The University Times Senior Masthead deserves the greatest thanks. In particular, I would like to thank our Irish Editor, Fachtna Mac Conghail, without whom the expansion of our Irish reporting would not have been possible.
Watching the SPANC livestream with my dear friends: our Assistant Editors, Freja Goldman and Ella Chepak; our Social Media Manager, Ella O’Neill; the Chair of our Editorial Board, Noa Shmueli; our Gaza Correspondent, Quinn Katz-Zogby; and my ever-supportive boyfriend, Tom Francis, made this extra special. Furthermore, I am extremely proud to represent Ireland.
I would also like to thank the Hist’s Robinson Subcommittee and the Phil for doing events with us this year, and I hope our positive relationship will carry into next year under my Editorship. Everyone deserves to be a part of journalism at Trinity.
I would also like to thank all of our section editors, across the broadsheet and Radius. In particular, I would like to thank our Sports Editors and correspondents, as our sports section has expanded so much this year, and this would not be possible without their dedication.
Thank you to every single one of our writers, our amazing social media team, and our unbelievably incredible photographers. I would like to especially thank our Puzzle team, who make the paper so fun.
The University Times is so lucky to have each and every one of you.”
