A Journal alum racked up another national student journalism award, adding to last year’s win and securing a coveted title.
Sophia Coppolino, ArtSci ’24, was recognized for her contributions in the field and was named The Globe and Mail Student Journalist of the Year by the Canadian University Press on Feb. 15. This win builds on Coppolino’s recognition last year, when she and former Assistant News Editor Sofia Tosello were awarded a John H. McDonald award for excellence in News Reporting.
Having served as the Senior News Editor in Volume 151 and as an Assistant News Editor the year prior, Coppolino reflected on the significance of her time at The Journal and what it means to receive national recognition.
“I really am grateful to be recognized. You don’t get anywhere alone and had I not worked with my team, I don’t think that team would have put me forward to be recognized for the work that we did together,” Coppolino said in an interview with The Journal.
Also shortlisted for two of her own bylines this year, Coppolino earned recognition in three of The Journal’s four short-listed categories.
Her nominations includes “The hazing incident that erased a prestigious Queen’s Commerce club,” winning a spot on the shortlist in the Investigative Reporting category alongside fellow Journal alumni Aimée Look, Comm ’24, and Asbah Ahmad, ArtSci ’24. Her story “Students protest secrecy over cuts to Queen’s Arts and Science outside town hall,” was nominated in the News Reporting category.
Coppolino explained that, after coming out of the pandemic in her third year, she joined The Journal to reconnect with the Kingston and Queen’s community through in-person engagement rather than isolation. She believes she succeeded in bridging that gap, forming lasting friendships along the way.
Just the other night, Coppolino had a long day of work and needed to talk to someone, so she called Ahmad, last year’s Editor in Chief and her Senior News Editor in Vol. 150.
“This is a lifelong friend of mine who I would have never met if I hadn’t been at The Journal,” Coppolino said.
Although late nights and print deadlines were staples of her time at the paper, the impact of the work she did is what kept her motivated.
“Stories that we wrote were being talked about at Senate, at committee meetings, amongst students about what was going on—they had no idea until they saw a Journal headline or a print copy on campus. People would message me on Instagram saying, ‘I read your story, I didn’t know this,’ and that’s the power of journalism, that’s the space it fills,” Coppolino said.
While her larger stories surrounding issues such as hazing and budget deficits were personal successes, she values smaller community and campus-based stories. She explained while they don’t necessarily hold the same weight, they demonstrate the importance of a local paper.
“I certainly feel like the News Editors and Editors in Chief who came before me paved the way, and so that’s definitely what I tried to do, and what I hope will continue to be done at The Journal,” Coppolino said.
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‘Globe and Mail’ Student Journalist of the Year, ‘Journal’ alumni, JHM, JHM awards
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