August 15, 2020
Our Associated Collegiate Press Innovation Pacemaker Award Entry
At the end of the 2018-19 academic year, a decision multiple years in the making became a reality. Since April 25, 2019, all State Hornet content has been published exclusively on StateHornet.com, on our social media platforms, and/or via multimedia video or audio channels. We transformed Sacramento State’s award-winning, 70-year-old student-run news publication into a 100% digital-only publication, cutting the print product.
The State Hornet is proud to be evolving alongside an ever-changing media landscape. Transitioning to digital-only positioned us as leaders in that mission. We recognized where our audience was reaching us, and how we could best reach them. Our mission has always been serving our audience, and this year, we fully embraced multimedia production as a scope of that goal.
Following the acquisition of professional-level recording equipment and reconfiguring a newsroom office to a studio, The State Hornet launched its first podcasts in September 2019. Our audio department has since produced more than 100 episodes of shows featuring original reporting and interviews about campus news, sports, arts and culture, and other topics of local and national interest. We transitioned to remote production amid the COVID-19 pandemic, continuing to inform our audience via a channel that is growing and popular among college students and that was previously unfulfilled by our organization.
With Robbie Pierce
An audio version of our standard news content.
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With Robyn Dobson
Our sports editor narrates athlete profiles and interviews.
With Mack Ervin III and Shaun Holkko
Two veteran sportswriters break down the week in professional sports.
With Shiavon Chatman
Everything from dissecting Beyoncé albums to discussing sociopolitical issues affecting the Black community.
With Robbie Pierce
A special series keeping our audience up to date on COVID-19 developments.
With Brooke Uhlenhop
Brooke Uhlenhop and friends discuss their favorite songs, albums and concert stories.
The State Hornet’s video production grew exponentially this year, culminating this spring in the debut of a biweekly YouTube broadcast. The show combines anchors’ news updates with the best of the week’s video packages. After launching a studio set up in the State Hornet newsroom, we successfully transitioned to remote production amid the pandemic.
One of many student profiles, this award-winning feature video gives a behind-the-scenes look at the life of a Sacramento State business major who dives in local lakes/rivers to recover lost treasures.
New equipment and our focus on video production and broadcast allowed for our staff to gain experience doing on-camera interviews, as shown in this video recapping a 4-game split in baseball against Santa Clara University.
To wrap up 2019, The State Hornet staff put together a video documenting Sacramento State students’ favorite albums released that year, as well as a list of our staff’s favorite albums.
During the spring 2020 semester, we introduced a broadcast program for the first time in State Hornet history. This is the final broadcast we produced during the semester, an example of how we were able to grow and adapt the format, talent and technology behind the broadcasts.
The story of The State Hornet's transition to online-only production and distribution is one of success. Over the past year, we've devoted our energy to expanding our reach on social media and interaction with our audience. We redesigned our newsletter, which nearly doubled in audience size, and included four regular segments, spread out through the week: news, sports, arts & entertainment/opinion and a summary newsletter of the most important news for that week. Our social audience also grew, attributed partially to our focus on breaking and covering news live on those channels.
The State Hornet interviewed three student DACA recipients about their experiences with the DACA program following President Donald Trump’s attempt to shut down the program. This story received widespread attention and was even tweeted out by California Senator and vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Our staff covered — in English and Spanish — a virtual town hall hosted by CalMatters and La Opinión about how undocumented immigrants can receive financial assistance in California. Coverage took place in the form of English and Spanish live tweets, and an English and a Spanish-translated article.
Following the introduction of Assembly Bill 2023 in January — which would allow transgender and nonbinary students to have their preferred names on their diplomas — The State Hornet interviewed transgender students at Sacramento State about their reactions to the bill, as well as their experiences with deadnaming and preferred name usage.
In honor of Black History Month, The State Hornet sat down with three Sacramento State Black student athletes and talked to them about their experience growing up and developing as athletes.
In the chaos created by the coronavirus pandemic, many universities struggled with a sudden transition to virtual learning and changes that affected every part of the campus community. With news of the virus’s effects coming out every day and changing just as often, The State Hornet created a timeline of our COVID-19 campus coverage. The timeline links to all stories related to the coronavirus and its impact on our campus.
With things changing rapidly due to the pandemic, it was often difficult to keep track of all the changes to resources and information available to students. The State Hornet created infographics to help students out in different areas of their lives, including how to file for unemployment, how to return textbooks, and coronavirus symptoms.
Our news organization made the best of the situation by continuing our coverage from home. We upheld yearly traditions like our Best of Sac State awards, where the campus community celebrates the year past by voting on their likes and dislikes. We adapted our expansive multimedia operation to a new reality by creating multimedia packages from our homes.
An annual tradition for The State Hornet’s coverage is the Best of Sac State awards, voted on by students toward the end of the spring semester each year. This year, The State Hornet staff worked to put together an interactive webpage filled with stories that correlated to each award. Some awards were uniquely adapted for the circumstances of COVID-19 and the online-only instruction that came with it, such as “Best Virtual Program” and “Best Zoom Background.”
While stuck at home during California’s shelter-at-home order, State Hornet editors created two “shelter-at-home diaries” videos to show their daily routines and lives during the coronavirus pandemic. (episode one, episode two)
Sacramento State’s football team had to adapt their workouts to California’s shelter-at-home order, and The State Hornet was able to capture this through footage from players and video interviews with them.
Our year of innovation included a new approach to public relations, marketing and advertising. We organized events, including a live podcast session which allowed us to come face to face with our readers. Pre pandemic, we organized other events like meet and greets and a State Hornet themed trivia night. Our PRMA team focused heavily on audience engagement by expanding our social media reach across platforms and organizing interactive online events like polls and giveaways.
The State Hornet’s public relations and marketing team organized a live podcast event in collaboration with Sacramento State’s radio station KSSU. The event was Valentine’s Day themed and allowed our audience to interact with us directly, through booths with games merchandise, as well as asking questions live during the podcast.
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