The Texas Community College Journalism Association has announced that Amarillo College mass media students won 16 awards, including three for first place, in this year’s competition.
The awards were announced at the TCCJA’s annual convention in October at the University of Texas at Tyler. AC students were not able to attend the convention this year and so did not participate in live contests in Tyler. Their awards came from work they did during the 2013-14 school year.
Amanda Castro-Crist, editor of the AC student newspaper, The Ranger, took first place in newspaper layout and design for her May front page saluting outgoing President Dr. Paul Matney.
Quintin Marquez, senior videographer and host of the “Badger BS” online video show, placed first in the video sports competition for his story about AC flag football.
And FM90’s Garrett Zamora won first place for audio news for his “Flappy Bird” story on the AC Report.
Placing second were the Broadcast News class for their AC Report of March 5, 2014, and April Torres for video news for her Badgerama story.
Third place certificates went to Marquez for sports news story for his Ranger coverage of the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame; to Vanessa Garcia for in-depth or investigative reporting for her “Sugar Baby” story in The Ranger; to Emily Prestwood for magazine non-journalism story for her story in AC Current, “Friends Remember A.J. Swope”; to the Ranger video staff for video production for “Badger BS (San Antonio Edition)”; to the Broadcast News class for audio sports for a story on AC intramurals; and to the Ranger staff for newspaper headlines for the Feb. 6, 2014, issue.
Honorable mention awards went to Castro-Crist for newspaper feature photo for her photo of AC students and faculty members in an elevator in Prague, Czech Republic; to Perla Arellano for news photo for her photo of an AC police simulated shooting; to Raylyn Bowers for column writing for her column, “Don’t Be Ashamed: There’s No Place Like Home”; to Troy Cartwright for newspaper cartoon for her drawing, “Welcome to the Cafeteria”; and to the Ranger staff for the editorial, “P.E. Strikes Out; Students at Disadvantage.”
Jill Gibson is the faculty adviser for video and audio news coverage with audio help from Brian Frank. Advisers for The Ranger and AC Current are Gibson and Mike Haynes.
“I’m sorry our students didn’t get to compete in the live competition in Tyler, but their showing in the previously published and previously broadcast contests was impressive,” Haynes said. “Amarillo College is well known at the Texas conventions for being one of the top media programs in the state, and these students kept that tradition going.”
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