Colgan wins award for homelessness oped

Flagler College reported to Local Historic City News reporters that Cal Colgan, a Flagler senior and co-editor of the college’s student newspaper, recently won a first place award for Best Editorial-Opinion Column from the Florida College Press Association.

The piece titled “Crippled by apathy, not compassion” ran in March 2009 and focused on the rising tide of homelessness in St. Augustine.

“I wrote the opinion piece about homelessness because this is a growing problem in this area,” he said. “There are not enough resources to care for those without houses or apartments, and the economic recession has caused more people to turn up on the city streets with signs begging for some assistance.”

Colgan spent the summer in an eight-week program at Georgetown University called the Institute on Political Journalism. The program prepares college students for a career in political journalism by setting them up with a journalism internship and offering classes related to applying journalism skills to the real world.

Colgan interned as a research assistant for a New York Times investigative reporter, as well as with CapitalWirePR.

The Gargoyle, now an online-only publication, also won a third place award for Best College Media Site. Flagler alumna and former Gargoyle editor Haley Walker also won a third place award in the Best Feature Story category.