Midland College Student Publications win 25 awardsApril 11, 2018

Midland College (MC) Student Publications contributors won 25 awards from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association awards, according to Bob Templeton, MC Allison Chair of Journalism. These were presented at the organization’s convention in Dallas on March 24.

“A special treat in this year’s competition was the winning of multiple first place awards and especially the second place in ‘Best of Show’ for the Midland College Press, which won over several two-year colleges and several universities,” Templeton said. “It was a show of team effort of the first two issues of this semester.”

In the previously published or canned-entry contests, the Midland College Press won an impressive second place for overall excellence in addition to the second place best of show contest.

Judges’ comments for overall newspaper excellence said, “In my scoring system, Midland and Galveston tied, but I gave the edge to Midland for broader campus coverage.” 

The top individual winners in the previously-published contests were 1st place awards by Chris Amaya for sports column and Josh Frazier for general column.

Of special note were judges’ comments for Frazier’s writing: “Very well thought out approach to a rather watered-down issue (police brutality and the NFL players kneeling in protest). Using the historical references added a twist. Clear winner in this category.”

Amaya also won second place in the sports feature story category and second place in sports column writing, in which he also won first place.

Other first place awards are the newspaper staff for photo story about “the…and now” photos of the MC campus, the staff of the MC Tableau literary magazine for story design package and the same magazine staff for best cover design.

Second place awards are as follows: Lacey Harper for feature story about feeding the impoverished; Valerie Walden for editorial cartoon; Nicholas Mastrioanna for in-depth reporting about coral reef research; Mallory Matthew for general news about on-campus gun carry; and Laura Johnson for critical review of a fiction religious book.

Other second place awards for overall staff efforts are newspaper headline writing, literary magazine overall design, newspaper op/ed page/spread design and newspaper inside news page design.

Other awards are as follows: Devin Johnson, honorable mention for critical review; staff for third place magazine story package design; staff for honorable mention magazine story package design; staff for honorable mention newspaper overall design; staff for third place newspaper inside news page design; staff for third place feature page/spread design; and staff for honorable mention newspaper page one design.

During the convention, students attended professional seminars and a trade show which featured the 24-chain Community Impact organization, whose mantra is “Print Ain’t Dead.” Its total circulation has grown from 60,000 copies to 1.78 million copies in 12 years. The firm is hiring newspaper journalists right and left, its onsite recruiter said.

Attending the convention with Templeton and MC Publications lab instructor Mary-Margaret Peterson were students Amaya, Harper, Johnson, Frazier, Ryan Keithley, Beverly Andeso, Laresa Lopez, Rebecca McAdoo and Nathan Olivas.