By Ranger Staff:
The Amarillo College student magazine, “AC Current,” has won two national awards for excellence. The Associated Collegiate Press and the College Media Association announced the awards during the annual fall national college media convention held from Oct. 25-29 in Dallas.
Known as the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism, the ACP Pacemaker is college journalism’s preeminent award. Judges base their decisions on coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership, design, photography and graphics.
“AC Current” competed against magazines from both public and private four- and two-year institutions from across the United States and Canada.
At the convention, the College Media Association also announced “AC Current” as the 2017 national first place Pinnacle Award winner for two-year college feature magazines.
“It has been both incredibly exciting and humbling winning these two national awards,” Maddisun Fowler, student media coordinator, said. “I know our students produce excellent work, but being nationally recognized just reinforces that they have what it takes to compete against some of the best universities in the country.”
The winning magazine was created in spring 2017 by Jenna Gibson, editor; Destiny Kranthoven, art director; Claire Ekas, assistant editor; Michelle Martinez, graphic artist; and Salvador Gutierrez, page editor.
Staff members from the student newspaper “The Ranger” assisted with the publication, students from the Matney Mass Media program provided stories and students in the visual arts department contributed photographs and artwork.
Jenna Gibson, magazine editor, described winning the awards as a great honor. “Claire, Destiny, Michelle, Salvador and I all worked incredibly hard on this magazine and it was amazing to see our hard work pay off. We could not have done it without the help of our advisers, Maddisun Fowler, Jill Gibson and Derek Weathersbee.”
This is the second time the magazine has received a Pacemaker. The 2015 fall issue was a previous winner. That edition also received a third place Pinnacle Award.
“I’m pleased that AC Student Media is continuing its tradition of excellence. This award marks a new milestone in the college’s achievements,” said Jill Gibson, mass media program coordinator, associate dean of liberal arts and student media adviser.
“I hope that this will inspire more students to join Student Media and be a part of this award-winning organization,” Fowler said, noting that students from any major can participate.
The “AC Current” was first published in 1972 and since then two issues have been produced every year. Work is now underway on the fall 2017 edition of the magazine, which will be distributed at the end of this semester.
Copies of the award-winning spring 2017 issue are still available on newsstands on AC campuses.
Leave a Reply