Press release by Marc Allan, associate director of university relations

School of Journalism alumna Jill McCarter (’13), the editor of The Butler Collegian during the 2012-2013 school year, has won a first-place Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) national award for an advertising campaign that introduces Collegian readers to the newspaper’s staff members and attempts to recruit new staffers.
The “I Am on the Collegian Team” ads give student journalists an opportunity to share unusual facts about themselves—“I put the milk in the bowl before the cereal,” for example—and conclude with a message that any student can join the paper.
“Jill conceived the ad campaign to remind Butler administrators and the BU community that the staff of The Collegian is comprised of a team of students from across the university, in terms of major, age, and class year,” Collegian faculty adviser Loni McKown said.
“Students learn many lifelong skills working on The Collegian — from key teamwork skills such as collaboration, cooperation and communication — to critical thinking and problem-solving, used and honed under deadline.
“They also learn a variety of skills that can be transferred to any number of careers or professions.”
McCarter, who now works as a graphic designer at The Northwest Times of Indiana, won national journalism awards for her reporting and writing as a Collegian member. Her Feb. 22, 2012, story “Being Black at Butler” earned ACP honorable mention for diversity story of the year.
She also won an ACP fourth-place award for design work for her front page featuring the story “Butler University Inaugurated 21st President Jim Danko,” Nov. 9, 2011. She shared that award with Hayleigh Colombo (’12).
ACP is the oldest and largest national membership organization for college student journalists. More than 20,000 students are staffers at ACP member publications.
McCarter also won numerous regional and state awards during her tenure at The Collegian.
As a junior, McCarter was one of 75 students from around the country selected to participate in the January 2012 Campus Coverage Project, a program that teaches investigative reporting skills to college reporters who can then apply them to covering campus issues. She received a full scholarship to attend a three-day Campus Investigative Reporting Workshop in January 2012 at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University in Phoenix.
“I made the campaign in order to tell our readers that there is a dynamic group of students behind The Collegian,” McCarter said. “Being on staff was such a rewarding experience for me for seven semesters because I was exposed to students with different backgrounds and beliefs and understandings, because they came from all across the university.
“I guess I just wanted to introduce the Butler community to the Collegian family–a family that made my Butler experience so great.”