Ļć½¶Ö±²„students win big in state, regional and national journalism contests
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.āĻć½¶Ö±²„ students this semester garnered top prizes in three journalism competitions throughout the country, bringing home first place wins at the state, regional and national levels.
MSUās student newspaper, The Reflector, earned the top honorāfirst place in General Excellenceāin the Mississippi Press Associationās annual Better Newspaper Contest Student Division competition held virtually this spring.
In addition to the first place General Excellence award, The Reflector won first and second place in Best Use of Social Media; second place in Best Editorials, Best Front Page, and Best Use of Video; and third place in Best Series/Investigative Feature and Best Layout and Design.
2021 individual MPA winners from Ļć½¶Ö±²„include:
ATLANTA, GeorgiaāMary Georgia Hamilton, senior business administration major; first place, Best Sports Photo and Best Feature Photo; third place, General News Photo.
BATON ROUGE, LouisianaāMichael O. Bourgeois, junior English and history double-major; second place, Best General Interest Column.
BIRMINGHAM, AlabamaāJordan M. Smith, junior communication/public relations major; third place, Best Sports Photo.
µžøé“”±·¶Ł°æ±·āRiley J. Stephens, senior English major; third place, Best General Interest Column.Ģż
BRIGHTON, TennesseeāGracie Bell, junior wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture major; second place, Best Feature Photo.
DAPHNE, AlabamaāBrandon A. Grisham, fall 2020 business information systems graduate; first place, Best Use of Social Media.Ģż
HUNTSVILLE, AlabamaāHannah R. Blankenship, senior communication/journalism and foreign language/Spanish double-major, and The ReflectorāsĀ new editor-in-chief; second and third place, Best General News Story.
³¢°æ±«±õ³§³Õ±õ³¢³¢·”āDaniel J. Dye, senior biological sciences major; third place, Best Feature Story.
MEMPHIS, TennesseeāJohn M. Haynes, fall 2020 history and foreign language/classics graduate; first place, Best General Interest Column.
SPRINGDALE, ArkansasāHunter J. Cloud, fall 2020 communication/journalism graduate; first place, Best Sports Column.
°Ā“”³Õ·”³¢“”±·¶ŁāSavannah C. Bonds, senior art major; third place, Best Cartoon and Best Graphic.
āWe started this year not even knowing whether we would print a physical copy of the paper,āĀ said Josh Foreman, Ļć½¶Ö±²„communication instructor and The Reflector faculty advisor. āThese student journalists put in long hours week after week during the school year, and awards like these prove their efforts are worth it, and that people are paying attention.āĀ
At the 2021 Southeast Journalism Conference held virtually in March, MSUāas a group entryāreceived second place for Best College Video News Program (Take 30) and Best College Radio Station; and fourth place for Best College Audio News Program.
Individual SEJC winners from Ļć½¶Ö±²„include:
BIRMINGHAM, AlabamaāSarah Morgan Johnson, senior English major; third place, Best Multimedia Journalist.
°ä°æøé±õ±·°Õ±įāT. Bronson Woodruff, spring 2020 communication/broadcasting graduate; first place, Best Radio Feature Reporter or Best TV Hard News Reporter.
±į·”øé±·“”±·¶Ł°æāKamien C. Bell, fall 2020 communication/broadcasting graduate; third place, Best TV Journalist.
HUNTSVILLE, AlabamaāHannah R. Blankenship, senior communication/journalism and foreign language/Spanish double-major, and The ReflectorāsĀ new editor-in-chief; third place, Best News Writer and Best Journalism Research Paper.
²Ń“”µž·”±·āHannah M. Vanderberg, senior communication/broadcasting and public relations major; third place, Best Radio JournalistĀ and Best Radio Hard News Reporter.
āThese phenomenal students have had a stellar year, especially during the pandemic,ā said Terry Likes, professor and head of MSUās communication department. āIt is nice to see their hard work paying off with this kind of recognition. Iād also like to commend the faculty and those who oversee campus mediaāThe Reflector, WMSV, Take 30 Newsāfor their hard work in preparing our students for excellence.āĀ
Eight Ļć½¶Ö±²„students won top honors at the virtual National Broadcasting Societyās annual competition in March. They include:
°ä°æøé±õ±·°Õ±įāT. Bronson Woodruff, spring 2020 communication/broadcasting graduate; grand prize, both for Audio Feature Package and Audio Feature Segment.
DAPHNE, AlabamaāBrandon A. Grisham, fall 2020 business information systems graduate; grand prize, Website (along with staff from The Reflector).
±į·”øé±·“”±·¶Ł°æāKamien C. Bell, fall 2020 communication/broadcasting graduate; grand prize, Video News Promo; and Jonathan M. āJonā Tackett, senior communication/theatre major; grand prize, Short Film (along with J. Hun-En Joswick).
LOUISVILLE, KentuckyāJ. Hun-En Joswick, senior art/photography major; grand prize, Short Film (along with Tackett).
²Ń“”µž·”±·āHannah M. Vanderberg, senior communication/broadcasting and public relations major; grand prize, Audio News Package.
MARIETTA, GeorgiaāKelsey D. Duncan, spring 2020 communication/broadcasting graduate; grand prize, Video Commercial (along with Jeremy A. Hinds and Amari I. Collins).
MEMPHIS, TennesseeāAmari I. Collins, spring 2020 communication/broadcasting graduate; grand prize, Video Commercial (along with Jeremy A. Hinds and Kelsey D. Duncan).
³§“”³¢°Õ±õ³¢³¢°æāJeremy A. Hinds, senior communication/broadcasting major; grand prize, Music Video. Hinds also received grand prize for Video Commercial (along with Kelsey D. Duncan and Amari I. Collins).
Part of the College of Arts and Sciences, MSUās Department of Communication can be found online at .Ģż For more information on the College of Arts and Sciences, visit .Ģż
Ļć½¶Ö±²„is Mississippiās leading university, available online atĀ .Ģż