The Post is the best daily student newspaper in the state of Ohio, according to the Society of Professional Journalists. But we want to be better.

Your student daily beat out both the BG News (Bowling Green State University) and The Lantern (Ohio State University), which took second and third place respectively.

To win an award is an honor, but it’s not enough. We recognize that we must present information in new and creative ways but maintain core principles if we are to serve our readers.

That’s why The Post looks pretty different today. We blended a modernized redesign that was just two years old with traditional elements. New and old have come together to make your newspaper even better.

Some of the changes are obvious. We abandoned a bubbly lowercase flag in favor of letters that tower atop our front page like they did in 1970 when Ohio University closed down amid riots. Others will be apparent only to our most adept design students.

But those minor adaptations signify an attention to detail that readers should come to expect from The Post, both in our design and our reporting.

You should expect nuanced, accurate reporting that lends relevant context to the news. You should expect clear writing that doesn’t confuse the information with bureaucratic garble. And you should expect that it all to be presented to you professionally.

I intend to meet those expectations, but that’s not to say it will be simple, or even that you will always agree with our judgment.

We serve Ohio University, Athens and Athens County, but that’s not to say that we are the mouthpiece of the people who run these places. We are here to question decisions and to present the most comprehensive look at this area that we can.

And if we aren’t doing our job, we want to hear about it. Send a letter to the editor. Comment on our Web site. E-mail a reporter or editor. We might disagree, but we can still have the discussion.

I hope we can repeat this award this year. That would mean we were up to the challenge of adapting to a changing media market, but more importantly it would mean that our readers got some of the most comprehensive coverage in this state.I look forward to the challenge. Welcome back.

Rick Rouan is a senior studying journalism and the editor in chief of The Post.