RCTC newspaper named best in state

The student newspaper at Rochester Community and Technical College earned top honors at an awards event held last week in Bloomington.

The Echo newspaper won five awards from the Minnesota Newspaper Association, including general excellence for best college newspaper.

The first-place finish was especially noteworthy given that the school was up against four-year universities from throughout Minnesota.

Editor in Chief Lydia Hansen placed in three individual categories, while former Editor in Chief Angelina Labonne placed in column writing. Labonne is now a student at University of Minnesota Rochester.

This is the third consecutive year that The Echo — which is led by faculty adviser Dwight Boyum — placed in general excellence in the association’s Better Newspaper Contest. It placed second in 2018 and third in 2017.

In addition to RCTC, the Rochester Post Bulletin also won 19 awards at the event, including best in state for the second consecutive year.

Cover photo: Echo Editor in Chief Lydia Hansen accepts one of three individual awards she received at the awards event / courtesy RCTC