Native son Neil Hopp honored for outstanding work at CMU publication

by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor

Neil Hopp, a 1962 graduate of Rogers City High School (RCHS), has been training future journalists at Central Michigan University (CMU) for more than a decade and has won many prestigious awards along the way. Hopp, the son of Carroll and Helen Hopp of Rogers City, has been the director of student publications since 2001, just learned CMU?s Central Michigan (CM) Life publication was named best all-around non-daily in the Society of Professional Journalists Region 4 Mark of Excellence awards, which included schools in Ohio, western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan.

Hopp said the last year has been especially gratifying at the paper since CM Life achieved what he calls the ?trifecta,? winning the Michigan Press Association?s (MPA) general excellence award, the Pacemaker, and now this honor. ?THE ASSOCIATED Collegiate Press Pacemaker award, that?s the big one for us because you are going up against every other college paper in a non-daily category,? he said. ?You?re being judged across the nation, and to be even named a finalist, is frankly an achievement.?

Under Hopp?s leadership, CM Life has been a Pacemaker finalist eight of his 10 years and won the award outright five times. The publication has been honored with the MPA general excellence award seven times. ?When I came here, we really worked hard to establish a standard of excellence, and then every year, I challenge the student editors to meet it or exceed it,? said Hopp. ?I think their record over the last decade proves the system works.? Another first in 2010 was winning a Pacemaker finalist designation for the first time for CM Life’s Web site, www.cm-life.com.

Hopp said the newspaper was a pioneer in collegiate online media, in that it was one of the first to embrace a true multimedia platform: posting news 24/7, producing videos, audio photo slideshows, podcasts and live-streaming campus news and sporting events. IN THE last year, the Web site generated 1.5 million page views from 192 countries. And, it?s third in the country among collegiate newspapers on Facebook (6,000 contacts and counting) behind only the North Carolina Tar Heel and the Michigan Daily.

Hopp?s also proud of their track record placing graduates. Since 2001, ?We have a 100 percent placement rate at newspapers, Web sites and ad/marketing agencies

all over the country. In fact, I get more job requests every year for CMU/CM Life graduates than I have people to fill them.? Hopp is the former CM Life editor in chief and professional journalist with more than 35 years of news and management experience.

He was the editor in chief of The Daily Times News in Mount Pleasant, The Sentinel in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and the Times-News of Twin Falls, Indiana. He was the publisher of The Leader in Corning, New York for 14 years before directing news training and development for Shaw Newspapers at The Northwest Herald in Crystal Lake, Illinois for five years.

He also was drafted into the Army shortly after landing his first job out of college. He served the country for two years, including a year in Vietnam. HIS BROTHERS are book author Jeff Hopp and retired RCHS teacher Jim Hopp, who taught English, history and journalism. His sisters are Christine Hopp of Gaylord and Carol Ann Shadbolt, who lives north of Rogers City. Neil has been married to his wife of 45 years, Linda, and they have a daugher, Kelli, who works for Corning Inc.