The Bullet (UMW)

The Blue and Gray Press is the University of Mary Washington's official weekly student newspaper. Founded as The Bullet in 1922, the editors of the paper changed the name to The Blue and Gray Press in 2018. Located in Fredericksburg, Virginia., the student publication is printed every Thursday, and distributed to the UMW Undergraduate campus. Its website averages 500 hits per day and its circulation is approximately 4,000.

Awards

The publication has received numerous awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and the Associated Collegiate Press and Newspaper Association of America Foundation.

Society of Professional Journalists
Mark of Excellence - 1st Place, 2003 [1]
Mark of Excellence - 2nd Place, 2002 [2]

Associated Collegiate Press and Newspaper Association of America Foundation
The Newspaperpacemaker Finalist Award - 1994 [3]

Name Change

In the summer of 2014, The Bullet announced on its Facebook page[4] that the newspaper was being relaunched as The Blue and Gray Press. In an interview with Campus Reform,[5] editor-in-chief Alison Thoet criticized The Bullet as a name that "propagated violence" and said, "In this day and age, no one really cares about the Civil War," referring to the previous name's allusion to Fredericksburg's history as a major battle site in the Civil War.

The name change was met with some controversy among the student body, alumni, and online as the story was reported on by news outlets and blogs, prompting the board to pen an open letter[6] clarifying its reasoning: "The Blue & Gray Press is a symbol of the school it serves and the locale in which it publishes." Some alumni and students responded to the letter, criticizing the board's decision to rename the paper after nearly a century as The Bullet. "I was a proud member of the class of '88. A bit less proud now," one commenter wrote. "Shame on you. Error and hypocrisy. Abandon history for political correctness stating reasons which are wrong to begin with."

Current editorial staff
  • Editor-in-chief: Chris Markham
  • Managing editor: Tess Osmer
  • News editors: Emily Hollingsworth and Sarah Grammar
  • Viewpoints editor: Alex Spence
  • Life editor: Della Hethcox
  • Sports editor: Mikey Barnes
  • Photo editor: Alex Sakes
  • Online editor: Ethan Tobin
  • Business manager: David Concepcion
  • Advertising manager: Natalie Furman

References
  1. "Mark of Excellence Awards - Society of Professional Journalists".
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-10-30. Retrieved 2014-10-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "ACP - Contest Winners". Archived from the original on 2014-10-30. Retrieved 2014-10-30.
  4. https://www.facebook.com/blueandgraypress/posts/294319900752749
  5. "University newspaper changes its name because it 'propagated violence'". 20 August 2014.
  6. "Open Letter: The Blue & Gray Press explains the change". 22 August 2014.
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