Award-winning photo captured by Ava Stroshane for Ibis Yearbook.

News@TheU
4-17-2025

Every year University of Miami student media staff members earn national attention among their peers for the work produced across various campus media outlets. This year, the Ibis Yearbook earned the Pacemaker Award for its most recent yearbook at the 2025 Associated Collegiate Press National College Media Conference in Long Beach, California.

“The Pacemaker is considered the Pulitzer of collegiate journalism,” said Randy Stano, professor of professional practice at the School of Communication and editorial advisor for Distraction and Ibis. Ibis was one of seven college yearbooks recognized with the Pacemaker Award, marking the 16th Pacemaker for the Ibis in its history, along with four finalists since 2002.

“These awards recognize how hardworking and talented the members of the Ibis Yearbook staff are. It means the world to me to have been a part of preserving the University’s history, and it feels extremely rewarding to have our work recognized across the country, said Carolina Camus, a first-year student at the School of Law. She served as editor-in-chief for three years, beginning in her sophomore year at the University.

“Carolina did an outstanding job as Ibis editor-in-chief, leading the publication to national recognition with three Pacemaker winners while editing the book. She added to the legacy of the Ibis being one of the gems of college yearbooking over the past two and a half decades,” said Stano.

Her involvement in Ibis Yearbook was an important part of her undergraduate career.

“I love print media, and I knew I wanted to leave a legacy at UM,” Camus shared. “Joining the Ibis Yearbook allowed me to exercise my creative freedom while honing in on my leadership skills. My experience as editor-in-chief provided me with skills and memories that I will carry with me through the rest of my career.”

During the ProCon 25: National College Media Association Convention held in New York City at the Marriott Marquis Hotel, student publications earned a total of three David L. Adams Apple Awards, or “Best of Show” recognition in individual publication categories.

Distraction Magazine earned two Apple Awards, or first place wins, in the feature website and the feature magazine categories for the Fall 2024 issue.

“To a lot of staff, Distraction is a big passion project. Many of us do it just because we love putting together the issues and seeing the final product, no matter how stressful the process might be,” said Salvatore “Sal” Puma, editor-in-chief of Distraction magazine. “Receiving national recognition for our work makes that process worthwhile. All of that stress about deadlines goes away when we’re at a conference and someone walks up to me and says, ‘You’re from Distraction? No way I love your magazine!’”

Puma is a senior computer science major and math minor studying in the College of Arts and Sciences and joined Distraction when looking for a place to remain engaged and involved with a creative community.

“Over my time in Distraction I got to learn an entirely new skill set, one that I really ended up enjoying,” Puma added. “It provided me with that creative outlet that I was expecting to get from performance. In a very STEM based major, coming in to write a fun article or put together a magazine spread was a much needed break from the books.”

Ibis Yearbook won an Apple Award, or first place, for its 2024 illustrative cover created by Jake Sperling, current editor-in-chief of Ibis and a second-year architecture major. Additionally, Sperling earned second place yearbook spread for his design titled “This is Miami.”

“I was very proud of how well our University of Miami students showed in the competition and impressed with how well they were respected by other student media groups,” Stano added. He also noted that Sperling designed about 25 versions of the “Ibis 2024” cover before he and then Ibis editor-in-chief Camus agreed it was ready to print.

Ibis Yearbook 2024 illustrative cover created by Jake Sperling.

“These awards are proof of the dedication and talent of our entire staff,” said Sperling. “But more than the awards, the most rewarding part of being editor-in-chief has been getting to see student reaction to the 2023-24 Ibis. I have never experienced such overwhelming praise and excitement that I saw during the distribution of the most recent book. Seeing students love my cover I designed and flipping through the spreads to try to find themselves has been one of the highlights of my time as [editor-in-chief].”

Madeline Darby, opinion editor of The Miami Hurricane and journalism major at the School of Communication, received an honorable mention for her opinion column titled, “‘Smile, you’re on camera,’ the problem with influencers filming on campus.”

At the Associated Collegiate Press conference, the University competed with dozens of colleges from around the country and won five out of 26 “Best of Show” awards for schools attending the conference.

UMTV was recognized as the best broadcast news show for their election special, Decision Day: Election 2024.

• Regina Potenza, a senior majoring in broadcast journalism with double minors in political science and public relations, received best broadcast news story and also placed fifth in best feature broadcast story
• Manny Naccarato, a junior double-majoring in broadcast journalism and sports administration, placed third in best sports story

“UMTV’s dominance of the ACP’s broadcast awards is evidence of why it’s become one of the most highly regarded television organizations in the country,” said Antonio Mora, Frances L. Wolfson Chair in Communication and associate professor of professional practice.

This is not the first time UMTV has been recognized at the national level. Over the past two years, UMTV news shows have won for best college newscast in the country from three major national organizations: the ACP, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), and the Radio Television Digital News Association. UMTV’s sports show has won the best sportscast award from NATAS for the past five years in a row, Mora added.

Also in Long Beach, Ibis was named Best Yearbook and selected by conference attendees as the People’s Choice winner, while Distraction was recognized as the Best Feature Magazine. Distraction and Ibis each brought home five individual page/spread design awards—accounting for half of the magazine and yearbook design awards—along with two individual design awards. Four photo awards were awarded to Ibis staff, and one to The Miami Hurricane student newspaper.

The Miami Hurricane also earned four reporting honors, including two in the Reporting: Feature Story category.

View the full list of the 2025 National College Media Conference Best of Show winners.