From Staff Reports
Student staff and contributing writers for The Southeastern and the Savage Storm Yeardisc traveled to Stillwater April 5 for the 2013 Oklahoma Collegiate Media Association conference and awards luncheon where the staff came away winners.
At the awards presentation The Southeastern and staff won a total of 23 awards. In the three overall categories The Southeastern came home with first place in the Overall Newspaper category, Interior Page Design and Front Page Design.
In the individual categories, 11 students won a total of 20 awards, including five first place awards. The Southeastern staff had at least one award win in 11 of the 13 categories entered.
Former staff member Brandi Bunch won first place in Column Writing and second in Cartoons.
Contributing writer Ethan Prus won first place in Cartoons.
Former managing editor and current contributing writer Allison Roberts won first in Editorial Writing, second in Reviews and an honorable mention for her Reporting Portfolio.
Former staff member and current contributing writer Kendra Germany won first place in the Reporting Portfolio category.
Former staff writer David Reagan won first place in News Photography and honorable mentions in Sports Photography and Photography Portfolio.
Current managing editor Stacy Hutto won second place in Reporting Portfolio and honorable mentions in Editorial Writing and News Photography.
KSSU station manager and contributing writer Nick Growall won second place in Sports Writing.
Former news editor Sarah Tarver won third place in Editorial Writing.
Former managing editor Lornna Bates got honorable mentions in Editorial Writing and in News Writing.
Advertising director Steven Dixon received two honorable mentions in Advertising Display.
Staff member Andreea Georgescu won honorable mention in Sports Writing.
Once back at Southeastern, the staff was excited about the results of the OCMA conference.
Hutto said, “I am proud of The Southeastern staff. The overall awards were the result of all the hard work the staff, past and present, puts in to make sure the best paper possible is put out. The awards would not be possible without the staff’s drive and dedication to make sure the newspaper we put out serves our readership.”
Before the awards luncheon, students were able to participate in breakout sessions where they could learn about different topics related to journalism. Including the application of FERPA and the Clery Act, as well as the First Amendment rights of college students. Students were also able to learn about mobile reporting and covering a tornado, sports writing and investigative reporting, along with what journalists need to know about open government laws, police and judicial systems.
There were also various newspapers interviewing for positions. This is the first time interviews was included in the OCMA conference. Due to this opportunity, a member of The Southeastern has already had a working interview with a newspaper from the conference. The interview led to staff writer Kristen Waldron getting hired by The Elk City Daily News as their new sports writer.
In an email J.B. Bittner, managing editor of The Elk City Daily News said, “I met Kristen during an interview session on the OSU campus. Kristen made a positive impression in presenting her work samples, outlining her experience and sharing information about her background, education and goals.”
Bittner went on to say, “We were pleased with the result and will welcome her to our newsroom as the sports editor for our one-person sports department.”
According to okstate.edu, “The Paul Miller Lecture is part of a series partially funded by a gift from the Paul Miller Family Foundation. Mr. Miller was a distinguished graduate of the OSU School of Journalism and Broadcasting in 1931, who went on to distinguish himself as the president of the Associated Press, and the Gannet Company.”
This year the Paul Miller Lecture was delivered by Lynn Povich, author of “The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued Their Bosses and Changed the Workplace.”
Shannon Hutcherson, editor of the Savage Storm Yeardisc, said he was excited for all of the hard work that finally paid off at this event and that he was equally amazed at all the work that OCMA put into hosting it.
Hutcherson said, “It was really amazing all of the opportunities that OCMA set up for students and future media professionals to partake in.”