The Daily Emerald won first-place awards for stories in news, features and sports, as well as five other second- and third-place awards in the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association 2020 Collegiate Newspaper contest. 

Every year, all student-run newspapers from colleges around Oregon enter the contest, which selects winners in categories that range from news articles to photo series. 

For the best news story, the Emerald took home the first- and second-place prizes. The top story, by Editor-in-Chief Michael Tobin, chronicled the stories of residents and complaints of mold in University of Oregon owned East Campus Housing. In second place, reporters Ryan Nguyen and Anakin Welp wrote about why the graduate employee union, the GTFF, planned to go on strike if their demands for higher wages and better benefits were not met.

In the category of best feature story, reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian profiled local business owner Ruth Yi in a story that received nearly 3,500 likes on Instagram. Emerald reporter Nolan Good won second place with a profile on the late Minoru Yasui, a UO law grad who in 1983 challenged his conviction and internment under the World War II executive order that interned Japanese Americans. Yasui was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. 

The first-place award for best sports story went to Emerald sports editor Gabe Ornelas for his story on Oregon football player Cyrus Habibi-Likio trying to make his way as an all-purpose running back. Emerald sports reporter Brady Lim took home the third-place award for his story on Oregon tight-end Spencer Webb’s hard journey on his way to play for the Ducks. 

The Emerald’s photo desk also took home two second-place awards. Photographer DL Young’s photo of UO football players celebrating their win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl placed second. In the category of best feature photo, Marissa Willke placed second for her photo of cars racing in the annual Takeover Northwest event.