With over 125 years of being the voice of the student at UW-Madison, it’s likely that you might’ve missed something along the way. Knowing that, we wanted to give you the top five facts about The Daily Cardinal!
Students have been running the Cardinal for more than a century!
1. The Daily Cardinal has been around for 128 years!
That’s right, the Daily Cardinal is the oldest student publication on campus. In fact, The Daily Cardinal’s founder, William Wesley Young, used to ride his horse down State Street to go pick up copies of the Cardinal for distribution. The first issue of The Cardinal was published on April 4th, 1892 and we’ve been delivering the top student news on campus ever since.
The color, not the bird! - Photo from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
2. A Cardinal on a Campus of Badgers
While The Daily Cardinal is almost 50 years older than Bucky Badger, it’s no doubt that Badgers are the most popular animal on UW-Madison’s campus. That’s okay because the Cardinal wasn’t even named after the bird, it actually gets its name from a color. That’s right! At the start of the paper, students voted to name it after the University’s official color, cardinal red. The name has worked for students for over 100 years, so we think we’ll keep it around for at least a few more!
Daily Cardinal alumni make up the majority of UW-Madison Pulitzer Prize winners!
3. A History of Award-Winning Alumni
While The Daily Cardinal has been the recipient of over 250 awards ourselves, we’re even more proud of the accomplishments of our awesome alumni. Cardinal alumni have won tons of awards including Pulitzer Prizes, Peabody awards, and Emmy’s. Our alumni have also gone on to do many other great things like working at world-renowned media organizations such as the New York Times and ESPN, founding The Onion, becoming the mayor of Madison, and even writing and producing for hit television shows like The Daily Show, American Dad!, and Lost.
Courtesy of The Daily Cardinal Staff
The Daily Cardinal's office - Photo by Kaitlyn Veto
4. Student-Run and Independent
Our paper was created by students for students. That’s the way it’s been for over 100 years and that’s the way it’ll be for 100 more. Our status as an independently-run student newspaper has allowed our students to gain firsthand experience in writing, advertising, marketing, social media management, and design while shaping The Daily Cardinal to be the true, independent voice of UW-Madison students.
The Daily Cardinal is constantly evolving to meet student needs!
5. We Are Wherever Students Are
The Daily Cardinal, originally started as a daily news publication, is always evolving to meet the needs of our student readers. Over time, the Cardinal has transitioned from our daily print publication to now publishing 10,000 issues once a week, updating our website daily, and interacting with students on our multiple social media platforms. As the voice and advocate of UW students, we’ll always be ready to be wherever our readers are.
We’re so proud to have served our students for over 125 years, and here’s to many more. If you’d like to learn more about how your business can become part of The Daily Cardinal’s story or just want to learn more, reach out to ads@dailycardinal.com today!
