Orange Media Wins Big in College Media Assoc Pinnacle Awards

Oregon State University senior Alan Nguyen has been named the top collegiate graphic designer in the nation, and two of Orange Media Network’s magazines are among the country’s best.

Nguyen, who holds the position of creative lead at Orange Media Network, received the national award for Best Graphic Designer as part of the 2022 Pacemaker Awards, sponsored by the Associated Collegiate Press and announced Friday in Washington, D.C., as part of MediaFest22. 

The College Media Association on Thursday also announced national Pinnacle awards as part of the conference.

DAMchic, OMN’s fashion magazine, received a Pacemaker as one of the ACP’s Magazines of the Year. At the Pinnacle awards, CMA named Prism, OMN’s arts and literature magazine, Literary Magazine of the Year.

In all, OMN received 25 national awards at MediaFest22 from ACP and CMA, and two from College Broadcasters, Inc., announced at a separate conference Saturday in Baltimore, Maryland. KBVR-TV received two fourth place CBI awards. 

At MediaFest22, Nguyen, Prism and DAMchic each took home multiple honors.

Nguyen received ACP’s top individual honor for Advertisement of the Year for OMN’s media rate card, which also won a first place from CMA in the same category.

In addition, he took home a third place from CMA for Best Ad Campaign and a fifth in the ACP category of Best Social Media Promotion. 

Nguyen’s work led to an ACP third place for Best Magazine Cover for DAMchic magazine, an award shared by current Photo Editor Ashton Bisner and current DAMchic Assistant Editor Chaya Barratt.

He also received both a CMA second place and an ACP honorable mention for Best Magazine Spread for Beaver’s Digest, an award shared with photographer Jessica Hume-Pantuso and 2021 Editor in Chief Jaycee Kalama.

A Beaverton resident double-majoring in Design & Innovation Management and Business Analytics with a minor in marketing, Nguyen didn’t set out to work in graphic design. Now, he’s thinking about making it his career.

“After coming to OMN, I realize that’s what I’m good at,” he said. “That’s something I would never have thought of when I started here at OSU. It was kind of a lucky surprise.”

Jaycee Kalama, who edited Beaver’s Digest with Luke Reynolds last year, said she was thrilled to hear of the honor for her page spread.

“It is incredibly validating to have received a national honor, CMA’s second best magazine news page/spread for our “Roe v. What?” story, because that means that our work and the message we wanted to send reached the national level,” she said.

Natalie Harris and Tosca Ruotolo edited the edition of Prism that was named CMA’s Best Four-Year Literary Magazine.

“The talent of OSU students is incredible, and I am so honored I had the opportunity to help present their work in a beautiful and meaningful way,” Harris, a 2022 graduate, said following the announcement. “One of the most important things I learned while working on Prism was not to be afraid to dream big – and to ask for help in order to make those dreams come true.”

Draken Reeves edited the issue of DAMchic that received the Pacemaker, ACP’s top national award. Prism and Beaver’s Digest, OMN’s lifestyle magazine, also were named Pacemaker finalists.

“My assistant editor Kai Warouw and I put a massive amount of time and energy into helping build confidence in the team’s individual visions and tackling new stories,” Reeves said. “My dream was to push the design of the magazine, and I learned so much about the process of creating a successful magazine launch, working alongside a creative team who are all passionate about creating accessible and beautiful spreads.”

KBVR-TV won a CMA first place for Best Video Entertainment Program. KBVR-TV and KBVR-FM both earned second places from CMA in the category of Best Four-Year Stations of the Year.

Drew Taylor, KBVR-FM’s 2021 production manager, received both first and second places from ACP for Best Audio Advertisement of the Year. 

“The Local Music Hour taught me that the greatest media contains a multitude of diverse voices, audio or otherwise,” he said. “I’m most proud of our work that shows our community that KBVR-FM is made of unique and real people. I think this promo highlights that.”

Jacob Ramirez, a 2021 cartoonist for The Barometer, OMN’s student newspaper, received a first from ACP and an honorable mention from CMA for Cartoon of the Year for his strip, Gumbo.

DAMchic received a CMA second place for Best Online Main Page, and Ellie Olivares received an ACP honorable mention in the Blog category. April James received an honorable mention from CMA for Best Magazine Cover for Prism.

Ann Marie Bottita, OMN Creative Video associate, took home second places from both ACP and CMA for Video Advertisement of the Year. Fellow Creative Video associate Kate Zaine earned an honorable mention in the same category.

“It’s just incredible to have any kind of recognition. I didn’t even know awards were a thing. I just wanted to highlight the people behind the scenes for TV,” Bottita said. “I really like getting to show off the personalities of the people who do cool things.”

Added Zaine: “The amount of time, effort, stress and thought (that goes into the work) has really helped me find my passion. I care about video, I care about OMN and I’m proud to be here.”

The winners: 

ACP Pacemaker, Magazine

Feature/General Audience

DAMchic: “Revelry” | Spring 2022

Draken Reeves, Kailea Warouw

ACP Pacemaker Finalists, Magazines

Literary Arts

Prism: Crossroads | Spring 2022

Natalie Harris, Tosca Ruotolo

Feature/General Audience

Beaver’s Digest: “Let’s Talk About Sex” | Spring 2022

Jaycee Kalama, Luke Reynolds