The Real Deal

At the end of March, the Trinitonian , Trinity University's student-run news publication, won First Place in Overall Excellence for Texas Student Newspapers along with 40 other honors from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA). Some of the other notable awards include First Place in Overall Web Design, First and Third Places in Special Edition Design for the New Student Orientation and Halloween issues, as well as eight other first-place posts, photos, cartoons, and news stories.

TIPA serves student journalists throughout the state as the oldest state collegiate press association in the nation. When judging the work, TIPA considered material published from January 1 to December 20, 2025. Trinity competed against 13 similarly sized universities in Division III of the contest. In 2025, Trinity's student-led paper saw a significant uptick in honors; in 2024, the Trinitonian won just 15 awards in the same division of the contest.

While Managing Editor Diya Contractor '26 was grateful to have received such high acclaim, she also wasn't surprised, knowing how much effort the staff had put into the publication. This confidence was echoed by Editor-in-Chief Samara Gerstle '26.

"I had a lot of hope, because the work that Diya and I put in, and that our editors put in, (and) our writers and everyone on staff, I knew that it was fantastic," Gerstle says. "I was really excited about that."

Yet, neither editor was expecting to receive as many awards as they did. They credit this success to the entirety of the staff, who, although made up of students of varying majors and interests, are dedicated to their role as journalists. From raising money through advertising and fundraising, hiring and disciplining staff, and publishing stories, the students are the ones keeping the publication on track.

Trinitonian adviser Daniel Conrad says the students are getting more than just hands-on experience to be applied in the future: The work they are doing now is already the "real deal."

"There's not really such a thing as being a student journalist," he says. "You just are a journalist, and you are doing what that job is."

Conrad says it's Gerstle and Contractor's guidance that keeps the staff running smoothly. Together, they act as a united front that encourages reporters to care about what they are covering. Their partnership works well, with their techniques complementing each other.

"I like to take things slow," Gerstle says. "Once Diya has something, she wants to run with it. And I think our approaches balance each other out."

Conrad appreciates what he sees as a powerful duality in their leadership styles. He feels that together they bring a sharp focus on the fundamentals and extend those skills to their staff.

"When you let students succeed and fail on their own terms, you will see excellence as a result," Conrad says. "You have to let students falter and rise above the obstacles that they face because putting people on training wheels is just not particularly helpful from that educational perspective."

Though the students have freedom in running the publication, they remain grounded in the fact that the Trinitonian is bigger than themselves, having existed under that name at Trinity since 1902.

"We know that maintaining (the Trinitonian ) is important to our predecessors and the people who will come after us," Contractor says. Having the opportunity to contribute to and further the legacy of such a storied publication compels students to put forth their best work.

Still, the publication's legacy also comes with its own pressure. "If you make a mistake, it's in front of everybody," Gerstle says.

The staff faces this pressure head-on to publish stories that are accurate: They investigate leads and corroborate information across multiple sources to ensure they are capturing the truth.

Contractor feels that the staff's robust training and dedication to their craft contributed to the high level of recognition they received in the contest. She notes that this devotion was especially important with more serious stories, such as pieces covering student harassment on Fizz , commotion over the Red Zone extension , and Ron Nirenberg's campaign for Bexar County Judge .

The awards for these stories were especially meaningful to both Gerstle and Contractor because they were ones particularly important to the Trinity community. Excellence in such impactful stories reflects the staff's commitment to their fellow reporters and the community to deliver factual and unbiased news.

"I hope that these (awards) are motivating in the sense that my reporters know the work they're doing is important, but I know that it's not necessarily that they do it for any kind of accolade," Contractor says. "They do it because they know it's the right thing to do."

Check out the Trinitonian's story on their website for a full list of the awards.