Published since 1883, The Vermont Cynic is one of the oldest university weeklies in the country. And among the most lauded.

In the past decade, the paper has seen tremendous growth. Membership has quadrupled to more than 100 staff members, who together form this news organization, doing everything from reporting to photography to ad sales and more. A tight-knit, well-trained leadership team sets the agenda and supervises the staff.

Though the University of Vermont has no journalism program, this student-led organization has racked up impressive awards, including:

• The 2011 Newspaper Pacemaker, considered the Pulitzer Prize of college journalism.
• The 2012 Online Pacemaker.
• Recognition in 2014 as one of the Top 20 College Newspapers as ranked by the Princeton Review.
• A 2015 National Story of the Year runner-up: a second-place showing in Associated Collegiate Press’s highly competitive competition.
• A first-place winner of the 2016 Diversity Story of the Year competition, in which the Cynic journalists placed better than their peers at Pepperdine, Drake, UNC-Chapel Hill, Northwestern and the Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY.

Cynic students go on to intern at the likes of USA Today and The Jerusalem Post. In just the past decade, these internships have led to full-time jobs at USA Today, The Boston Globe, The Arizona Republic, ABC News and many others.

As a lifelong journalist and, since 2006, the Cynic’s adviser, I’ve sought to teach students the journalistic and leadership skills that they need to succeed. A focus on diversity and social justice helped to transform newsroom leadership from 85 percent male to predominantly female, paving the way for the first female editor-in-chief in 20 years. We’ve had many since.

Learn more about The Vermont Cynic at vtcynic.com.