Paper wins 1st in excellence

     The Collegian, Tarrant County College’s student publication, won first in General Excellence at the Texas Community College Journalism Association (TCCJA) convention in Galveston recently.
     The newspaper beat out The Ranger, from San Antonio College, and the San Jacinto Times, from San Jacinto College, which won second and third places, respectively.
     Thirteen individual awards were won by the staff at the annual convention two weeks ago.
     The conference, sponsored by Lee College in Baytown, united community colleges from around the state and featured advisers from other publications as well as instructors and professional from the news media who spoke on different journalism-related fields.
     Newspapers were split into two categories and critiqued on an array of criteria, including news, feature and editorial writing, page layout, photo page design and advertising. The Collegian was placed in Division 1, along with other larger two-year schools.
     The Collegian staff received a first place award for its overall layout and design, as well as second place for headline writing.
     In the editorial writing category, Lowell Brown, former South Campus editor, won second place for his Honesty Outweighs editorial.
     For their collaboration on a cancer series, Dwayne Stolzfus, former feature editor, and Carolyn Martin, reporter, won third place in the in-depth or investigative story category.
     An article covering the trial of Dr. Gwen Morrison, a trustee of the TCC Board, written by Brown and Sarah Baker, former editor-in-chief, was awarded first place in the newswriting category.
     Sean Dickerson, former editor-in-chief, received an honorable mention for his column By the Hour.
     Only two awards were given in the news photo category, and both were won by The Collegian.
     James Ethridge, photo editor, won first place for his photo of the Bank One building after the tornado tore through downtown Fort Worth. Dickerson won second for his photograph of an unidentified mourner at the Wedgwood shooting memorial.
     Cory Clinkscale, former photo editor, won first place in the feature photo category with his Monster Invasion photo.
     Ethridge won third place in the same category for his “What is that?” picture. In addition, he won second place in the picture page for his photos on the devastation in Fort Worth after a tornado ravaged the city.
     Jill Wohldman’s advertising series for the College Bookstore earned her first place in advertising.