Every March, college journalists from around the state gather for the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA) Convention, where they celebrate the best in collegiate journalism. The convention was postponed this year, but all four DCCCD student newspapers were recognized for their excellence in reporting, writing, editing and multimedia.
Because the convention has been postponed, winners were informed via email.
The Et Cetera, Eastfield’s student newspaper, led the way with 52 TIPA awards, including first place in Division 3 for Newspaper Overall Excellence. The paper’s 52 awards tied Northeast Texas Community College for the most awards won this year.
The paper’s Editor-in-Chief Skye Seipp won both Editor of the Year for two-year schools and Reporter of the Year for two-year schools.
North Lake’s News-Register won 29 awards. The News-Register took home first place in Division 4 for Newspaper Overall Excellence. The paper’s November edition also earned North Lake first place in Division 4 for Newspaper Overall Design.
Three News-Register cartoons swept the Division 4 Editorial Cartoon category. Eric Zapata’s “Food Insecurity” won first place, Audrey Hatter’s “Self Care” won second place, and Eric’s “Make Up Your Mind” took third place.
The Brookhaven Courier took home 34 awards, eight of which were first-place awards. The Courier’s website received praise in the form of a first-place award in Division 3 for Website Overall Design. Eastfield finished second in that category.
The Courier won both first and second place in the Division 3 Production category, with their women’s sports feature taking first place. Jacob Vaughn’s and Matthew Brown’s Sports Page 02 won second place.
Richland’s student newspaper, the Richland Chronicle, won 23 awards. Jonathan Lin’s story about the EF-3 tornado that hit the areas surrounding Richland won first place in Division 2 for Breaking News. Obase-Wotta Kammonke picked up another first-place award in Narrative Reporting for the Chronicle with his story on the men’s basketball team’s third-place finish at nationals.