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Journalism students, grads win in SPJ and TIPA competitions

Students in ACU's Department of Journalism and Mass Communication recently made strong showings in two regional competitions. The ACU student team won an impressive 45 awards, including 12 first places, in live and pre-submitted entries at the annual convention for Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA) in Corpus Christi, March 29-31. They also won 14 awards, including seven first places, in the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) regional competition in Fort Worth on March 24. Many of the awards were for coverage surrounding the November multi-injury bus crash in which one ACU student lost her life.

In both competitions, students competed against the largest universities in Texas in categories including newspaper, news website, radio, television and literary magazine. The honors were for either pre-submitted work appearing last year in the print and online versions of the Optimist or other student media, or for work completed during live competitions.

Dr. Kenneth Pybus, student media faculty adviser, and Cade White, visuals adviser, are pleased the awards recognize work in print, photo and broadcast reporting.

"Our program emphasizes a converged curriculum," says Pybus, "so it is encouraging to see students crossing traditional media boundaries to do great work and to have that work acknowledged by professionals."

At the TIPA convention, Pybus was named adviser of the year while the Optimist, ACU's twice-weekly student newspaper, placed third for best in show. Mark Smith, next year's editor in chief, received a $400 Frank Buckley Scholarship from TIPA.

From the SPJ competition, the seven first-place winners will go on to the national competition of SPJ, the largest and oldest organization of professional journalists in the country.

A listing of the awards from both competitions are found below.

Society of Professional Journalists Regional Competition

First Place

Television In-Depth Reporting
Farron Salley and Jozie Sands
Special Report: Extended coverage of fatal bus accident

Television Breaking News Reporting
Farron Salley
ACU bus wrecks while traveling to service project

Television Feature Photography
Caitlin Bradford
Leah Green Thumb: Student artist gardens on the go

Television Feature Reporting
Caitlin Bradford
Leah Green Thumb: Student artist gardens on the go

Online Feature Reporting-4 Year College/University
Samantha Sutherland
Map guides tour of lights

Breaking News Photography-4 Year College/University
Daniel Gomez
Bus Accident

Editorial Cartooning-4 Year College/University
Ben Miller
O Dear, Christian College
Cartoon 1, Cartoon 2, Cartoon 3

Second Place

Television Sports Photography
Austin Gwin and Kristin Goodspeed
Wildcats hang 51 in rout of Western Oregon

Feature Writing-4 Year College/University
Laura Acuff
Make Hay

General News Photography-4 Year College/University
Daniel Gomez
Switchfoot Concert

Third Place

Online News Reporting-4 Year College/University
The Optimist Staff
One dead, many injured in ACU bus accident

Television Sports Photography
Kristin Goodspeed and Taylor Langston
ACU escapes Tarleton State with a 27-24 victory

General News Photography-4 Year College/University
Daniel Gomez
Veterans Day Flag

Editorial Writing-4 Year College/University
Ryan Self
Tasteless speech remains protected

Texas Intercollegiate Press Association annual convention

First Places

Best Sweepstakes
JMC Network Staff

Best Overall Newscast
Farron Salley, Christina Burch and David Singer
JMC Network Newscast

News Non-Feature Story
Farron Salley
ACU bus wrecks

Editorial
Jozie Sands
Campus Community

Single Public Affairs Program
Zane Goggans
State of the City

Production
Blane Singletary
Eye on Entertainment

Documentary
Farron Salley
Black History Month

Overall Best Newscast
KACU staff
ACU News at Noon

Best Use of Mapping
Samantha Sutherland
Map guide tour of lights

Best Breaking News Package
Daniel Gomex, Hannah Barnes, Blane Singletary, Phillip Miranda and Melany Cox
ACU bus accident

Short Story
Marshall Fox
Infinite Spaces

Radio Sports Writing: Live Competition
Mark Smith

TV Sports Writing: Live Competition
Austin Gwin

Radio Announcing: Live Competition
Blane Singletary

Second Places

Sports Feature
Taylor Langston
Blackwater Draw

Feature
Caitlin Bradford
Leah Green Thumb: student artist gardens on the go

Sports Action Photo
Daniel Gomez
Football

Feature Story
Matthew Woodrow
Going green

Best Blog
JMC Network Staff
Food Blog

Poem
Bethany Bradshaw
Independence

Overall Excellence
The Shinnery Review

TV News Writing: Live Competition
Natalie Goin

Print Advertising: Live Competition
Hannah Barnes

Magazine Design: Live Competition
Jozie Sands

Third Places

Audition Tape
Farron Salley

Sports Non-Feature Story
Austin Gwin and Kristin Goodspeed
ACU vs UWO

Sports Feature Photo
Daniel Gomez
Volleyball

Illustration
Hannah Barnes
Memories of 9/11

Sports News Story
Austin Gwin and Daniel Gomez
Four score

Best Website Navigation
JMC Network Staff
acuoptimist.com

Radio News Writing: Live Competition
Edward Isaacs