Salient

Salient third best publication in the world

By Seonah Choi | 6 Oct, 2008

Salient returned from the annual Fairfaxsponsored Aotearoa Student Press Association (ASPA) awards last week with a haul that included one first and second placing, as well as four third placings, including one for Best Publication.

Held at the WEL Performing Arts Centre, this year’s awards ceremony was co-hosted by the Waikato Student Union and Nexus, Waikato University’s student magazine.

Salient’s volunteer writer Sarah Robson was awarded first place in the Best News (Unpaid) category. Judge Simon Collins from the New Zealand Herald described Robson’s entries as “written stylishly” and praised the “wit” of one particular article.

Salient placed second in the category of Best Education Series for its coverage of the Film School proposal earlier in the year, while News Editor Seonah Choi and Feature Writer Jenna Powell were awarded third in their respective categories. Humourist Robbie Neilson shared the placing in the Best Cartoon category with Daniel Alexander from Otago University’s Critic.

Judges for the various categories this year included numerous prominent media personalities, including Eating Media Lunch’s Jeremy Wells, investigative journalist Nicky Hager, as well as a communications lecturer and staff from the Dominion Post, the National Business Review and the Sunday Star-Times.

While conceding that he was “a little” disappointed at Salient’s third placing in the Best Publication category – behind Critic and Massey University’s Magneto – Editor Tristan Egarr mused: “I think we are probably a bit too weird, a bit too academic to win much.”

“I think the judges went with snappy accessible pieces [rather] than complex pieces that take several readings, but that’s cool. I thought Critic were the best, definitely, and Magneto has really upped it’s game.”

Judges Martin Bradbury and Colin Peacock of Radio New Zealand’s Mediawatch commended Salient, saying, “[There was] some truly ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking in the treatment of some topics,” and added: “It hasn’t gone glossy like other publications, sacrificing style for substance.”

Salient’s Films Editor Haimona Gray found little solace in these words, declaring: “I was robbed. If this happens again, I’m suing.”

Other members of staff, however, described the awards night as “delightful” and requested special mention of the singalong that ensued following the commencement of the ceremony.