Daily Bruin Wins 39 Awards at National Convention
Prospective UCLA applicants interested in campus journalism can see how student media performs at the national level.
Updated on Nov. 10, 2026 in College Applications
The Daily Bruin, UCLA's student newspaper, won 39 awards at the Fall National College Media Convention, held Wednesday through Saturday in Kansas City. The convention is the nation's largest student media convention.
Why it matters
For prospective students, the result is a visible sign of the kind of hands-on journalism and multimedia training available to undergraduates at UCLA. Student media programs like this one often sit alongside the campus's broader academic and extracurricular offerings, which applicants weigh when comparing schools.
The Daily Bruin earned 39 awards in total, including 7 ACP Best of Show awards and 11 College Media Association Pinnacle awards. The paper also won the Multiplatform pacemaker and was a finalist for the Newspaper pacemaker.
The players
Daily Bruin
The UCLA student newspaper, a campus publication that competes in national college journalism awards.
Associated Collegiate Press
A national organization that awards the highest honors in student journalism through its pacemakers and Best of Show competition.
College Media Association
A national organization that presents Pinnacle awards to college media outlets.
The details
The awards are given by the College Media Association and the Associated Collegiate Press, which together judge student publications across the country. The Associated Collegiate Press awards its pacemakers as the highest honors in student journalism. The Daily Bruin's staff won seven ACP Best of Show awards, placing second for Website in that category, and its News Story on UCPD's handling of a childcare teacher's arrest placed seventh in Best of Show.
Timeline
The Fall National College Media Convention ran Wednesday, November 4, through Saturday, November 7, 2026.
The awards were reported on November 9, 2026.
Education Landscape
Student media awards like these sit outside the main college-cost and admissions conversation, but they are one of the signals applicants can use when judging a campus's extracurricular strength. The ACP pacemaker system has long served as the benchmark for recognizing top college newspapers.
Prospective students comparing schools can look at the strength of campus media and other extracurricular programs as part of their research. A useful question to ask an admissions office is how student publications and similar activities are supported and how students get hands-on experience.
The takeaway
The Daily Bruin's results show how much weight national student journalism awards carry as a measure of campus programs. When researching schools, applicants can ask admissions offices what hands-on media and extracurricular opportunities are available to undergraduates.
Further reading
For more on how campus life and extracurriculars fit into the admissions picture, explore our College Applications coverage.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Daily Bruin.
