Daily O'Collegian
Encyclopedia
Stillwater, Oklahoma
Stillwater is a city in north-central Oklahoma at the intersection of U.S. 177 and State Highway 51. It is the county seat of Payne County, Oklahoma, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 45,688. Stillwater is the principal city of the Stillwater Micropolitan Statistical...
. The newspaper has been in distribution since May 15, 1895, several decades before Oklahoma A&M became known as Oklahoma State University. The O'Colly is ranked as one of the top college newspapers in the country, earning several honors throughout its history and has a circulation of over 10,000.
History
Though the student-run newspaper at Oklahoma State has been around almost from the beginning, it has not always been published as The Daily O'Collegian. The paper's original name, The College Mirror, was used from 1895-1899. The name would then change to The College Paper in 1899, The Orange and Black in 1907, and The O'Collegian in March 1924. On December 1, 1924, The O'Collegian began daily publication, increased its circulation to 2,983, and joined the Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, becoming the fifth college newspaper in the United States to do so. The only other college newspapers holding AP membership at the time were at the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
, Indiana University
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
, the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
and Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
. In 1927, the paper's name was amended a final time, becoming The Daily O'Collegian.
The O'Colly's online edition was launched in 1995.
Awards
The Daily O'Collegian has received All-America honors, the highest rating given by the Associated Collegiate PressAssociated Collegiate Press
The Associated Collegiate Press is the largest and oldest national membership organization for college student media in the United States. The ACP is a division of the National Scholastic Press Association...
and National Scholastic Press Association
National Scholastic Press Association
The National Scholastic Press Association is a nonprofit organization founded in 1921 for high school and secondary school publications in the United States. The association is membership-based and annually hosts high school journalism conventions across the country...
, every year since 1989. In 1990, the paper produced the National SPJ Sports Photo of the year, and one of its journalists was recognized as first runner-up for College Journalist of the Year. One photographer received SPJ's Sports Photo of the Year and was a runner-up for News Photo of the Year in 2004. In 1991, The O'Colly produced the National Story of the Year from the Associated Collegiate Press and the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
. Also in 1991, the paper received the Distinguished Newspaper Adviser Award from College Media Advisers Inc. The O'Colly received the National Newspaper Pacemaker Award, often considered the Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
of college journalism, in 1995.
Additionally, the paper has been honored with other awards from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, Society of Professional Journalists
Society of Professional Journalists
The Society of Professional Journalists , formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is one of the oldest organizations representing journalists in the United States. It was established in April 1909 at DePauw University, and its charter was designed by William Meharry Glenn. The ten founding members of...
, Southwestern Journalism Congress and Oklahoma City Gridiron.
Notable alumni
- Bev Bennett - Handled publicity for celebrities such as John WayneJohn WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
and Gene AutryGene AutryOrvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s... - Chester Gould - Created the Dick TracyDick TracyDick Tracy is a comic strip featuring Dick Tracy, a hard-hitting, fast-shooting and intelligent police detective. Created by Chester Gould, the strip made its debut on October 4, 1931, in the Detroit Mirror. It was distributed by the Chicago Tribune New York News Syndicate...
strip - Tom Heggen - Literary writer; his book Mister Roberts would go on to be a hit on BroadwayBroadway theatreBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, in addition to being adapted into a movie starring Henry FondaHenry FondaHenry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins... - Wauhillau LaHay - Became a White HouseWhite HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
correspondent for Scripps-HowardE. W. Scripps CompanyThe E. W. Scripps Company is an American media conglomerate founded by Edward W. Scripps on November 2, 1878. The company is headquartered inside the Scripps Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its corporate motto is "Give light and the people will find their own way."On October 16, 2007, the company...
during the JohnsonLyndon B. JohnsonLyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
and NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
administrations - George Milburn - Literary writer
- Paul MillerPaul Miller (journalist)Paul Miller was an American newspaper executive and journalist. He headed the Gannett newspaper chain from 1957 to 1973. Miller also served as the top official of the Associated Press from 1963 to 1977.-Early years:...
- Helped in the creation of the GannettGannett CompanyGannett Company, Inc. is a publicly-traded media holding company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States, near McLean. It is the largest U.S. newspaper publisher as measured by total daily circulation. Its assets include the national newspaper USA Today and the weekly USA Weekend...
media empire; also served as president of the Associated Press - Earl Richert - Succeeded Walker Stone at Scripps-Howard
- Clifford Smith - Director of western picturesWestern (genre)The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
for Universal StudiosUniversal StudiosUniversal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios.... - Walker Stone - Editorial writer and editor-in-chief of the Scripps-Howard newspaper chain
- Marion Marle Woodson - Literary writer
- Fred Minnick - International writer and photographer. Author of Camera Boy: An Army Journalist's War in Iraq and the Certified Angus Beef Biography