About Us

The Athenaeum (Athe-a-nee-um) has a long tradition of serving the students, faculty and staff of  West Virginia University.

The publication began as a literary magazine when classics were popular in college study, hence the name which refers to the forum in ancient Athens where oratory and debate took place. The Athenaeum celebrated its centennial in 1987 with publication of a special edition.

Soon after journalism instruction began at WVU in the 1920s, the journalism faculty took over supervision of the Athenaeum, utilizing it as a laboratory newspaper to help teach writing, editing and advertising. The publication took on the appearance of a newspaper and became a weekly.  Within a year or two, it became a semi-weekly and soon appeared three times a week. It assumed daily status (five days a week) in 1933.

Over the years, the Athenaeum improved and grew larger, and hundreds of journalism students worked as its reporters and editors. In the 1960s, however, the paper had reached a point where it demanded too much of the faculty’s and students’ time. Also, with the advent of offset printing, the paper had to set up production facilities and paste up pages.

So the Athenaeum parted company with the School of Journalism, and in 1970 became independent. A full student staff works on the paper with five non-student employees at management-business level.

Before the Athenaeum left the School of Journalism, it dropped back to a four-day-a-week publication, but resumed five-day publication in 1987. In May of 1994, The Daily Athenaeum moved into a new facility located at 284 Prospect Street. A special Building Fee funded construction of this facility.

The DA is now a 24/7 digital-first media organization that includes print, online, video and podcasting. On Mondays 15,200 copies of the DA are distributed on campus and inserted in the Dominion Post in Monongalia and Preston counties. The Thursday edition of the DA is distributed to 130 locations around Morgantown and has a pick-up rate of 90%. During the academic year, theDAonline.com has more than 4,500 visitors daily. The DA is proud of its role as a watchdog for the WVU community and of the generations of students who have honed journalistic, business and leadership skills at the DA.

Awards 2019 -2020

Society of Professional Journalists Green Eyeshade Award

First place, Best Student News Reporter, Joe Severino
(Award honors student journalists in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina,
South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia.)  

College Media Association

Distinguished Adviser Award
Adell Crowe, Four-Year Newspaper Adviser

Pinnacle Awards

Editorial
Third Place, Breaking News, Rock fall on Mon Boulevard, Duncan Slade and Douglas Soule 

West Virginia Press Association

Advertising (Division III, Weeklies over 4,000 circulation)

First place, Best Process Color Ad Larger Than A Half Page, "Prospect and Price Creative", Maggie McLister

First place, Best Recruitment Ad, "Interested?", DA News Team

First place, Best Online Motion Ad, "Bent Tree Ticker", DA Sales and Production Team

First place, Best Newspaper Promotional Campaign, "Prospect and Price Creative", Maggie McLister

Second place, Best Process Color Ad Larger Than A Half Page, "The Domain - Floorplan to Future", Hannah Williams

Third place, Best Process Color Ad Larger Than A Half Page, "Mylan Park The Aquatic", Hannah Willams

Third place, Best House Ad, "DA Valentine's Day Promo", Hannah Williams

Third place, Best Recruitment AD, "Join The DA", Hannah Williams

Third place, Best Theme Page Classified, "Mountaineer Messenger", DA Classified

Third place, General Excellence in Advertising (statewide for Division III, Weeklies over 4,000 circulation)

West Virginia Press Association

Editorial (Division III, Weeklies over 4,000 circulation)

First place, Best Sports Event Reporting, "The reason why Holgorsen left breaking down his WVU, UH Contracts", John Lowe, Jared Serre

First place, Feature Photography, "A woman plays with a dog at Coopers Rock", Tim Shaw

First place, Sports Photography, "Iowa State's Lawrence White and West Virginia's Winston Wright Jr. fight for ball", Duncan Slade

Second place, Best In-Depth or Investigated Reporting, "Evaluating pedestrian safety in Morgantown one year after student death", Joe Severino

Second place, Best Special Section, "April Fools' Edition", DA Staff

Third place, Best In-Depth or Investigative Reporting, "Nolan Burch wrongful death and settlement", Joe Severino

Third place, Best Illustration, Cartoon or Graphic, "Throwdown in Morgantown", Staff

Society of Professional Journalists (Regional)

Finalist, Sports Photography, Duncan Slade
Finalist, Editorial Writing, Douglas Soule
Finalist, DA Staff, General News Reporting

Awards 2018 -2019

Associated Collegiate Press

Best in Show - ACP/CMA Conference 2019

Fourth place, Large School Website

Tenth place, Large School Newspaper

Columbia Student Press Association, Columbia University

Gold Circle Awards

Certificate of Merit, In-depth News Story, "WVU Loan Default Rate the Highest in the Big 12", Alayna Fuller

Certificate of Merit, Informational Graphic, "The High Cost of Being Greek", Haleigh Holden

Columbia Student Press Association, Columbia University

Gold Medalist

College Media Association Pinnacle Awards

Advertising
Finalist, Best Ad Campaign, Chateau Royale 

Finalist, Best Display Ad, Prospect and Price Creative

West Virginia Press Association

Advertising (Division III, Weeklies over 4,000 circulation)

First place, Best Agency Advertisement, "Puppy Pilates", WVU Medicine Creative Staff

Second place, Best Agency Advertisement, "Drinking Buddy", Clara Warner

Third place, Best Process Color Ad Half Page or Less, "Greek Life", Hannah Williams

Third place, Best Special Section, "Housing", DA Staff

West Virginia Press Association

Editorial (Division III, Weeklies over 4,000 circulation)

First place, Best Special Section, "The DA's Most Influential", Staff

First place, Best In-Depth or Investigative, "Child-care assistance program", Joe Severino

Third place, Best Governmental Affairs Reporting, "WVU loan default highest in Big 12", Alayna Fuller

Third place, Best Single Issue, Nov. 5 "Horns Down", Staff

Third place, Best Newspaper Design, Staff

Third place, Best Sports Event Reporting, "Simmons' touchdown a long time coming", Chris Jackson

Society of Professional Journalists (Regional)
Finalist, Sports Columns, John Lowe

Finalist, Sports Writing "Mountaineers Love Beer", Douglas Soule

Finalist, Breaking News, Jordyn Johnson, Joe Severino, Douglas Soule

College Media Association, Best of Show Awards
Websites, Large Schools (More than 10,000 students)

Fifth Place, thedaoinline.com

BestSchools.com
Ranked 8th most influential college newspaper 2018

Awards 2017 -2018

Society of Professional Journalists (Regional)
Finalist, Sports Photography, Ryan Alexander

West Virginia Press Association

2018 Advertisement of the Year, "Panera Delivers" by Brooke Marble

Advertising (Division III, Weeklies over 4,000 circulation)

Third place, Overall General Excellence in Advertising, Staff

First place, Best Agency Ad, "What's at the end of your straw?", WellWVU Creative Team

First place, Best Recruitment Ad, "The DA is now hiring", Staff

First place, Best Single Newspaper Online Promotional Ad, "Color Your Campus", Staff

First place, Best Special Section, Graduation Edition, Staff

First place, Best Online Motion Ad, "Panera Delivers", Brooke Marble

Second place, Best Classified Section, Staff

Second place, Best Newspaper Promotional Campaign, Staff

Third place, Best House Ad, "Coloring Book Winner", Staff

West Virginia Press Association
Editorial (Division III, Weeklies over 4,000 circulation)

First place, Sports Photography, "Wide receiver Gray Jennings is tackled in the air", Ryan Alexander

Second place, Sports Photography, "Pascal Derwaritsch makes a place for the ball", Tristian Wright

Second place, Best Sports Columnist, "Chris' Corner", Chris Jackson

Third place, Best Sports Feature, "Molded by experience, Mazzulla is humbled to live the dream.", Chris Jackson

Third place, Best Special Section, "Over the years." Celebrating 150 years of WVU, Staff

Third place, Best Coverage of Breaking News, "Man follows WVU student to her car, makes demands.", Douglas Soule

Awards 2016 -2017

Associated Collegiate Press Newspapers Pacemaker Awards
Winner, Best Newspaper
Honorable Mention, Newspaper Page One Design of the Year

Individual Writing Awards
Honorable Mention, Caity Coyne, Best Breaking News Story for "Baker arrested two months before resignation, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct."

Honorable Mention, Adrianne Uphold, Best News Package category for " Naloxone: A second chance at life."

Advertising
Winner, Best Online Ad, Jackson Montgomery, Best Online Ad, Rt. 7 Auto Repair

Second Place, Staff, Best Social Media Strategy, Thankful Tree

Honorable Mention, Jackson Montgomery, Best Display Ad, Chateau Royale

First place, Best Front Page, Andrew Spellman, "Under Rated, Under the Radar, Under Dawgs"

First place, Best Single Issue, staff, "We are one WVU"

First place, Feature Photo, Ryan Alexander, cover of the mountaineer from the Missouri game

Second place, Best Sports Feature, Chris Jackson, "Zitel overcomes odds to find role at WVU"

Third place, Best Front Page, Andrew Spellman, "We are one WVU"

Third place, Best Illustration, Nick Rhoads, clown cover

Third place, Best Special Section, Joel Whetzel, "The Year in Review."

West Virginia Press Association

2017 Advertisement of the Year, DA Promo Video, Staff

Advertising (Division II, Dailies with less than 16,000 circulation)

First place, Best Progress Edition, Graduation, Staff

First place, Best Online Promotion Ad, Dress for Success, Staff

First place, Best Single Newspaper Online Promotional Ad, DA Promo Video, Staff

Second place, Best Online Motion Ad, Dress for Success, Staff

Second place, Best Process Color Ad ½ Page or Less, The Cupcakerie, Staff

Third place, Best Spot Color Ad ½ Page or Less, Fright Farm, Staff

Third place, Best Full Page Ad Campaign, Fashion Forward, Staff

CMBAM (College Media Business and Advertising Managers)
Second place, Best Self Promotion Video Ad, Staff

Third place, Best Special Event, Thankful Tree, Staff

Honorable Mention, Best Sales Pitch or Proposal, Sheetz, Staff

Honorable Mention, Best Ancillary Operation, PR Street Team, Staff

Society of Professional Journalists (Regional)
First place, Feature Photo, Andrew Spellman, Dog days at the pool

First place, News Photo, Andrew Spellman, Profits over people

First place, Editorials, Brandon Ridgeley

Finalist, Breaking News, Kayla Asbury

Finalist, Feature Writing, Alainia Conrad

Finalist, Photo Illustration, Askar Salikhov

Finalist, Sports Columns, David Statman

Society of Professional Journalists (National)
Finalist, Feature Photo, Andrew Spellman, Dog days at the pool

American Scholastic Press Association
Most Outstanding Weekly Newspaper

First Place ranking, College newspapers