By Daniel Yanez
Managing Editor, The Eagle
Northeast Texas Community College?s newspaper, The Eagle, once again took home more than 20 awards from the annual Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA) conference.
Last†month, the journalism staff traveled to Dallas to represent The Eagle and the college?s literary magazine, Lagniappe.
This year, the journalism staff won a total of 22 awards including seven first place awards, a number of second and third place awards as well as honorable mentions in several other categories and two awards for the literary magazine.
Editor-in-chief Teresa Flores, who won nine TIPA awards, also received the Warms Scholarship for two-year college students. The Eagle placed just behind St. Mary?s University for the Sweepstakes Award, the recognition one school in each division receives for most awards won overall.
?The students work really hard to produce a newspaper that tells the stories that make up the Northeast campus community,? Eagle Adviser Mandy Smith said.
?These awards highlight the talent of our student journalists and the time and effort they put into making The Eagle an awarding-winning paper.?
More than 40 four-year universities and community colleges, with over 500 students, attended and took part in the annual conference.
In the competition pool, Northeast faced fellow journalists and communication majors from universities like St. Mary?s, Incarnate Word and Sul Ross, as well as several two-year colleges such as North Lake College and Austin Community College.
The awards were earned from work that was sent in from the spring and fall 2015 semesters. TIPA sends the journalism entries received from the colleges to professional journalists for judging.
The students also have the opportunity to compete in a variety of live contests during the three-day event. Along with the contests, the students attend sessions presented by professional journalists and college professors. This year?s event, which was held in Dallas, offered sessions by reporters from the Dallas Morning News and the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
Last year, Eagle staff member Scott Wilhite won a first place in the live editorial competition while Eagle cartoonist Kathy Edwards placed fourth for her work in editorial cartoon.
Not only did staff members receive numerous awards, The Eagle also received a third place award for Overall Excellence.
In individual entries, Flores took first in sports feature and news story.
Opinion Editor Brandon Pettey received two first place awards for in-depth reporting and sports column writing. Copy editor Guy Stilwell and cartoonist Katherine Edwards added to the first place listings for The Eagle by winning in news feature story and editorial cartoon drawing respectively.
Other first place winners included Managing Editor Daniel Yanez and Entertainment Editor Jessica Drumm for feature page design.
?I am so proud of the staff this year,? said Flores. ?They represented the college well at the TIPA conference during the live competitions and handled their own against top universities.?
The journalism staff has, in the past, excelled in both its newspaper and literary magazine entries by winning multiple first and second place awards.
Flores said the conference serves as a great opportunity for students to interact with student journalists from across the state.
?Even though we didn?t win in any live categories, I think the experience and knowledge the staff gained from talking to other conference members and advisers made up for that,? said Flores.
The Eagle, which began publishing under former journalism professor, Dr. Larry Thompson in the late 1980s, has been a member of TIPA for more than 20 years.
Flores said Smith, who also won a number of TIPA awards while she was a member of The Eagle staff a few years ago, has been the driving force behind the student publication.
?Mandy has been and will continue to be the backbone of our staff,? said Flores. ?These awards, past, present, and future, simply could not have been possible without her. She is the perfect example of what it means to be an educator on this campus.?
Smith said students like Flores, who will be finishing her tenure as editor-in-chief this spring, and the student journalists she leads are the reason the paper continues to be an award-winning publication.
?Teresa has done such a good job with the paper during her time as editor,? Smith said. ?The entire staff continues to carry on the Northeast tradition of students that excel at what they do. I?m so glad that I get the opportunity to be a part of their lives.?
List of TIPA awards
1st Place:
Sports Feature Story: Teresa Flores
In-Depth Reporting: Brandon Pettey
Sports Column: Brandon Pettey
Feature Page Design: Daniel Yanez and Jessica Drumm
News Feature Story: Guy Stilwell
Editorial Cartoon: Kathy Edwards
News Story: Teresa Flores
†
2nd Place:
Opinion/Editorial Page Design:
Brandon Pettey
Headline: Brendan Owens
and Teresa Flores
Picture Story: Daniel Yanez
and Teresa Flores
Sports Column: Brendan Owens
Editorial Cartoon: Kathy Edwards
News Story: Joanna Armstrong
Literary Magazine Story Package:
Joanna Armstrong, Teresa Flores
and Maria Ramirez
†
3rd Place:
Page One Design: Teresa Flores
Sports Page Design: Teresa Flores
Overall Excellence:
The Eagle
†
Honorable Mention:
Single Subject Design: Teresa Flores
News Feature Story: Daniel Yanez
Photo Illustration: Teresa Flores
Sports Feature Photo: Daniel Yanez
Illustration: Kathy Edwards
Literary Magazine Essay: Stacey Tafoya
