As the current debate rages about fake news and the field of journalism, future journalists enrolled at four colleges in the Dallas County Community College District system – Brookhaven, Eastfield, North Lake and Richland – have learned the skills they need to succeed as reporters, photographers and online news staff members.
All four staffs recently won honors at the 2016 Texas Community College Journalism Association convention held at several locations in the Houston area. Additionally, three of the papers took national honors in Washington, D.C., during the Associated Collegiate Press National College Media Convention.
Brookhaven Courier
Brookhaven Courier editors and staff members earned a record-breaking 33 awards during the TCCJA conference. “These 33 awards set a new, all-time record number of awards for Brookhaven Courier staff at this conference,” said Daniel Rodrigue, the newspaper’s advisor. “Obviously, I am very proud of the work our editors and staff have accomplished this past year. This haul makes Brookhaven’s student newspaper the winningest community college in Texas for 2015-2016!”
The newspaper previously won 24 awards at TCCJA in 2015, 17 awards in 2014 and 11 awards in 2013.
At this year’s conference, the Courier’s news team competed in what’s called “canned” – or previously published – contests as well as live competitions on site against community college newspaper staffs across Texas. TCCJA includes 18 member schools that offer journalism programs or have student newspapers, including Kilgore, Tarrant County, North Lake, Eastfield and Richland colleges, plus others. The Courier staff members earned Sweepstakes Awards for their magazine and broadcast entries – they received the most points for the top awards in those two categories, according to Rodrigue.
In multiple categories, the Brookhaven Courier won awards for both entries submitted (two entries are allow per category) in news photo, cartoon, sports feature, advertising and non-photographic illustration, for example.
The Associated Collegiate Press awards included: third place, “Best of Show,” for Windmill, Vol. 5 (the college’s literary magazine); sixth place, Best of Show, in the two-year newspaper category for the staff’s recent 9/11 issue; first place, Design of the Year – Illustration, and fifth place, Best House Ad, for the poster titled “True Stories 2015.” ACP, with more than 650 member colleges across the U.S., is the largest and oldest college journalism and publishing organization of its kind.
The Brookhaven Courier is a laboratory publication of the journalism, photography and visual communications classes at the college; it began its 38thyear of publication in fall 2016. The print edition is published six times during both the fall and spring semesters. Staff members have won honors for the newspaper from TCCJA, Associated Collegiate Press and the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association.
Eastfield Et Cetera
The student media team from the Eastfield Et Cetera and The Alternative (the college’s literary magazine) won 30 awards at the TCCJA convention, including first place for newspaper general excellence and a fifth consecutive Sweepstakes Award for newspapers in division 1. Seven of the eight students who attended placed in the live, on-site contests, and four of them won first place in news writing, radio news writing, feature photo and photo essay.
The Et Cetera staff also won awards at the National College Media Convention for feature photo and special section cover design; in the Best of Show Contest, the paper’s Sept. 28, 2016, edition placed ninth among two-year schools, and the Eastfield Experience Student Guide earned fifth place for special editions.
“My students dedicate long hours to the newspaper and work exceptionally hard to produce quality work that meets professional journalism standards,” said Elizabeth Langston, the newspaper’s advisor. “They don’t do it for awards, but I’m delighted when they win. It shows them that others see what I see: that they excel among their peers. “
The Et Cetera, an award-winning publication, serves as the newspaper of record for Eastfield College, and focuses on news for students, faculty, and staff. The Et Cetera publishes at least 12 print editions each academic year, in addition to its online news site.
Richland Chronicle
During the TCCJA convention, the Richland Chronicle brought home “lucky 13” awards, described by newspaper advisor Erica Edwards, who also is lead faculty and coordinator of journalism and student media at the college. In the live contest, one staff member earned first place in the TV newswriting category, and another received an honorable mention in the photo essay competition. In the “canned” contest, staff members took first-, second- and third-place honors (as well as several honorable mentions) in categories such as newspaper division I overall excellence, editorial writing, advertising, sports feature and more.
The student media team took the top national honor at the ACP conference: a 2016 Newspaper Pacemaker Award, described by Edwards as the “Pulitzer Prize of student journalism.” The award citation honored the Chronicle, in part, “for general excellence and outstanding achievement by a college…publication in a national competition.” The Richland newspaper was named one of only 30 finalists earlier in the year and is one of only a handful of two-year programs included among the nominations.
Other Pacemaker award winners included the University of Georgia, Syracuse University and the University of Oregon. Pacemaker winners are considered to be among the top one percent of college newspapers in the country, according to ACP’s executive director, Laura Widmer. One Chronicle staff member was recognized with an individual award: second place in the comic panel/strip competition.
“I am immensely proud of what this team has accomplished,” said Edwards. “The Pacemaker Award is an exciting win because it demonstrates that our students can compete and succeed on a national stage. The award recognizes the best of collegiate journalism, and it is an honor just to be nominated. It also reflects the teaching skills and hard work of faculty in Richland College’s journalism/student media program. And it speaks volumes about the dedication and hard work of our students, week in and week out.”
Richland students publish the Chronicle campus newspaper daily online and weekly in print. The Chronicle also won the ACP Pacemaker Award in 2000, 2001 and 2007, and was a finalist in 2003, 2006 and 2008.
North Lake News-Register
The North Lake News-Register won 15 awards during TCCJA’s Houston conference this fall. They took honors in a number of categories in these “canned contest” division II categories: newspaper editorial, newspaper website, newspaper cartoon, advertising, column writing, sports photo, layout/design, headlines, news writing, feature and news photos, and others.
The college’s literary magazine, Duck Soup, took the top honor for overall excellence in the magazine category.
The North Lake News-Register was recognized in 2004 and 2008 as one of the top 25 college newspapers in the nation by Associated Collegiate Press and was ranked one of the top six in Texas by the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association in 2009 and 2011. The Texas Community College Journalism Association has awarded first place to the paper’s website for the past two years. In addition to the News-Register, students are responsible for the layout, content, editing and design of the annual literary magazine, Duck Soup, and a newcomer’s guide to the college, The Blazer. The News-Register is printed at least four times each semester and maintains a continuous online presence.
