The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) on May 12 named The Daily Iowan the 2019 Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper in the country. The other finalists were The Daily Bruin (UCLA) and the Yale Daily News.

National Mark of Excellence Award winners are chosen from category winners in each of SPJ’s 12 regions and the awards honor the best collegiate journalism within a calendar year. They are judged by journalism professionals with at least three years of experience. Lists of regional winners can be found in SPJ News.

SPJ recognizes first-place national winners at the Student Union event during Excellence in Journalism, which is currently scheduled for Sept. 10-12 in Washington, D.C.

Judges were directed to choose only those entries they considered outstanding work worthy of a national honor. If the judges determined none of the entries rose to this level of excellence, no award was given. Any category not listed has no winner.

School divisions are based on student enrollment, which includes both graduate and undergraduate enrollment. Large schools have 10,000+ students and small schools have fewer than 10,000 students.

Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper
Winner: The Daily Iowan – by staff of The Daily Iowan, University of Iowa
Finalist: The Daily Bruin – by staff of The Daily Bruin, UCLA
Finalist: Yale Daily News – by staff of the Yale Daily News, Yale University

In February, The Daily Iowan was named the Iowa Newspaper Association’s 2020 Newspaper of the Year. The award marked the first time the DI has won the association’s top honor since 1981.