Justin Caudell was named Editor-in-Chief of the Western Carolinian during the 2009 spring semester. An award-winning reporter before joining the staff, Justin has been with the Crossroads Chronicle newspaper in Cashiers, North Carolina for eight years. He first joined the paper as a weather reporter in 2003 and became a sports reporter in 2005.
Justin has also worked at the Highlander Newspaper in Highlands, North Carolina as an office assistant, was a stringer for the Gannett Company, and a Sports Writer and Photographer for PrepAlert.
While at the Chronicle, Justin has received six North Carolina Press Association awards, gaining praise in 2004 and 2007 in the General News Reporting Category and in 2008 in the General Sports Writing and Sports Feature Writing categories. In 2009, he was recognized in the Sports News Reporting and Sports Photography categories.
At the Western Carolinian, Justin has been a national finalist twice in Associated Collegiate Press contests, once in the Best of Collegiate Writing category (2009) and once in the Best Use of New Media category (2010). The Western Carolinian newspaper as a whole has been a finalist for five Associated Collegiate Press awards under Justin’s leadership and received a 2010 Best of Show award in the Publication Website category at the National College Media Convention held in Louisville, KY. In Spring 2011, The Western Carolinian received a third place Best Slideshow award at the College Media Advisers National Convention in New York City.
Justin is an Honors College student at Western Carolina University, majoring in Journalism and Political Science.
