Cal Poly Journalism Students Win Mark Twain Award

Cal Poly broadcast journalism students Ed Zuchelli and Lindsay Macleod were awarded the Mark Twain Award from the Associated Press Television and Radio Association in the Student TV category Best General News.

Produced for CPTV, Cal Poly’s student-run television station, the video news segment was the only student production that received an award.

Zuchelli and Macleod’s story explain California’s new “Top Two” candidate open primary. California Proposition 14, which took effect in June 2012, allows voters to cast ballots in open primary elections where the top two recipients move to the general election regardless of party affiliation. In addition to being full-time journalism students, Zuchelli, of San Luis Obispo, Calif., and Macleod, of Westlake Village, Calif., work as content producers for news shows on KSBY-TV, the NBC affiliate in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties.

The Mark Twain Awards are given to television and radio stations in 13 western states to honor their work advancing broadcast journalism.

About CPTV
CPTV is Cal Poly’s on-campus, student-run TV Station under the direction of the Journalism Department. The station airs a weekly 30-minute newscast that covers news, weather and sports at Cal Poly and in the city of San Luis Obispo. KCOY morning reporter Patti Piburn and KSBY’s morning anchor Richard Gearhart advise the CPTV students.

About the Cal Poly Journalism Department
At Cal Poly, Journalism majors prepare for careers by completing a core of required courses, then branch out, focusing in media specializations of their choice. Students can gain practical experience by working for a converged media center, a newspaper, a campus radio and TV station, or a student public relations agency.