Student Publications News

For the fifth time in seven years, the College Heights Herald at Western Kentucky University has won the Jon Fleischaker Freedom of Information Award at the Kentucky Press Association annual conference.

The award, which recognizes exemplary use of public records and public meetings laws to inform its community, is given by The Associated Press based on demonstrated use of state access laws in its news coverage.

The 2025 award, presented Jan. 23 in Louisville, honored work by Price Wilborn, Jake McMahon, Anthony Clauson and Ali Costellow published in the College Heights Herald between Oct. 1, 2024, and Sept. 30, 2025.

“Receiving the Fleischaker Award once is a true achievement,” said Chuck Clark, director of WKU Student Publications. “Winning it for the fifth time in the past seven years says that the students who run the College Heights Herald take seriously their duty to deliver excellent, in-depth reporting to the community they cover.”

The Fleischaker Award is named for one of the most important people in guarding the public’s right to access their own government in Kentucky, Louisville attorney Jon Fleischaker. He is a pillar of the Kentucky legal community and a tireless defender of the public’s right to see and explore the inner workings of state and local governments in the Commonwealth.

Fleischaker is a staunch supporter of collegiate journalists, especially those at Western Kentucky University. He and his wife, attorney Kim Greene, sponsor the Fleischaker-Greene First Amendment Scholars at WKU. He makes sure that editors at the College Heights Herald have his personal mobile number and that they know they can call him at any hour, if they have a journalistic legal issue they need help with.

These stories were included in the Herald’s entry for this year’s Fleischaker Award entry:

• “What Went Wrong?,” an investigative report published Sept. 21, 2025, that explored engineering failures and a lack of oversight that resulted in WKU’s three newest dorms – built over the past decade at a cost of $88 million and containing more than 1,000 beds – being closed, with one scheduled for demolition. The story was reported by Anthony Clauson, a sophomore from Bowling Green.
• “WKU overspent generated revenues by $3.9 million in 2023-24, documents show,” which revealed that the university had overspent its budget for the second year in a row. The story was reported by Price Wilborn, a May 2025 graduate from Shelbyville and editor-in-chief for 2024-25.
• “Open letter to the Board of Regents: It’s time for real transparency from Caboni and WKU administration,” an editorial from the Herald Editorial Board on the secrecy that surrounded the condition of WKU’s budget.
• “WKU only Kentucky public university to see fall enrollment decrease,” an analysis by Wilborn that revealed WKU had lost more than 20% of its enrollment over the past decade and was the only public university in the state to see its enrollment continue to decline in Fall 2024.
• “WKU subsidy of athletics tops $28 million in 2023-24, report says,” a story from Jake McMahon, a Louisville senior and the current editor-in-chief, that used public records to explore how much WKU spends to support collegiate athletics beyond the revenue that the athletics programs generate.
• “Flo Rida being paid $150,000 for concert on South Lawn,” a report by Wilborn that revealed how much WKU was paying the rap artist for a concert before a fall football game.
• “WKU spends over $241,000 for Flo Rida performance,” from Ali Costellow, a Bowling Green junior, that revealed the total cost of concert.

The Fleischaker Award was first given in 2020 for work in 2019. Three awards are given each year – to a daily newsroom, to a weekly newsroom and to a collegiate newsroom. In addition to the 2025 award, the  College Heights Herald won the collegiate division for:

• 2019 – Staff of the College Heights Herald for stories covering the prevalence of mold in university residence halls; money spent by the general counsel’s office to redecorate while the university was eliminating jobs; and for its coverage of the events surrounding then Provost Terry Ballman’s attempt to fire the dean of Potter College and the subsequent controversy that ultimately resulted in Ballman’s resignation.
• 2021 – Lily Burris and Debra Murray, both former editors-in-chief, and the Herald staff for their in-depth report of how WKU investigated sexual misconduct allegations that students made against faculty and staff. The story involved a years-long legal fight in which WKU sued the Herald to prevent the release of records, a case the Herald ultimately won.
• 2022 – Debra Murray and Jake Moore, both former editors-in-chief, for their relentless coverage of a recommendation to the Board of Regents from WKU President Timothy Caboni to fire a tenured professor for incompetence. The recommendation was ultimately rejected by the board during a nine-hour meeting held in a conference room in Wetherby Administration Building rather than in the regents’ normal meeting space.
• 2024 – Cameron Shaw, Price Wilborn, Jake McMahon and Alexandria Anderson for coverage of a variety of issues including detailing construction flaws that led to the closure of Hilltopper Hall; an editorial using public records to call for more effective and inclusive leadership from the university; a report exploring the growth in deficit spending by WKU Athletics; and stories detailing how WKU spent more money than it took in during the previous fiscal year. Shaw, Wilborn and Anderson graduated in May 2025.

The award for 2020 work was given to the Kentucky Kernel at the University of Kentucky. The 2023 award honored work by The Northerner at Northern Kentucky University.

Also at the Kentucky Press Association winter convention, the Herald won:

• First place – Best analytical or enterprise story, Anthony Clauson.
• First place – Best investigative story, Anthony Clauson.
• First place – Best editorial writer, Price Wilborn.
• First place – Best general news story, Price Wilborn.
• First place – Best front page, staff.
• Second place – General excellence, staff.
• Second place – Best analytical or enterprise story, Price Wilborn.
• Second place – Best video, staff.