By Audrey Werth/tr news editor
The Collegian won best non-daily newspaper among all colleges and universities in the state by the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors for the second straight year. Several student staff members also received honors from the regional Society of Professional Journalists contest as well.
Collegian editor-in-chief Jamil Oakford received the APME award at its conference March 28 in Waco.
Photo special to The Collegian
“I think I was surprised, not because, you know, it’s a far-fetched idea but just because they won it last year,” Oakford said. “And, to hear that for the second time in a row, AP has looked at us and said, ‘You guys are on it. You guys are the best newspaper that’s non-daily for colleges,’ I think that’s just an incredible feeling.”
Student publications director Eddye Gallagher was also proud to learn the paper had won first place in Texas for another year.
“We were blown away. It was unbelievable,” Gallagher said. “We were excited when we won last year, and then to find out that we’d won two years in a row is just amazing because, again, we were competing with four-year schools.”
The Collegian also attended the SPJ regional conference March 28 in Norman, Okla., where staff members won awards or were recognized as finalists.
Managing editor Tabitha Redder won first place in the region for column writing.
“Truthfully, I was surprised because I have been writing forever, and it hasn’t yielded any fruit,” Redder said.
Of the 103 awards given out, only 10 in the region went to community colleges, and four of those were awarded to Collegian staff.
Two former staff members, Eric Rebosio and Erin Ratigan, were recognized as finalists for work they had done for the paper.
