Amarillo College Student Media members won 13 awards in competition announced Tuesday (Nov. 3) by the Texas Community College Journalism Association.
The honors included three first place awards for AC students for their work on the student newspaper, The Ranger, and the student magazine, AC Current, during the 2014-15 school year.
Amanda Castro-Crist, Ranger editor during the contest period, won first place in the in-depth or investigative category for her story on domestic violence. Allysia Fine took first in newspaper advertising for her “Pixels and Pastries” ad, and Jp Bernal received a first-place certificate for magazine layout and design for his “Social Savvy” page design in AC Current.
Bethany Zalman took second in magazine layout and design for her “Melt the Fat Away” page spread. Bernal placed second for magazine cover design and also for his newspaper “Free College” cartoon.
AC Current editor Hannah Overton took another second place for magazine photography for her portrait of Cathleen Tyson.
Castro-Crist placed second in feature writing for her story about a family who lost a loved one and received another second place for her page one newspaper design. She also placed third in the sports photo category for her rock climbing photo.
Honorable mention certificates went to The Ranger for general excellence, to the Ranger staff for headline writing and to Heather Hinkle for her newspaper column, “Show compassion to the little ones.”
The 2014-15 awards would have been handed out in Austin Friday (Oct. 30), but the certificates did not make it from TCCJA headquarters in San Marcos because of the heavy flooding last week.
Seven current Student Media members also participated in live competition in Austin Thursday night (Oct. 29), putting together a multimedia package in 12 hours on the topic, “Sixth Street on a Budget.” Wesley Bahn, Makayla Barrientos, Alma Bustamante, Robert Celestino, Denisha Kranthoven, Christie Rankin and Austin Ulen worked all night in competition with teams from other Texas community colleges.
They also attended sessions of the Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Association national convention in Austin along with adviser Mike Haynes.
“The multimedia competition was a first for TCCJA,” Haynes said. “The students had to create video, photos and written stories on a single topic using only smartphones or tablets. Our AC people learned a lot about teamwork and about covering news in an exciting environment. Our program coordinator, Jill Gibson, had prepared them well.
“And AC did well in the traditional competition, which is no surprise.”
Bailie Myers, a former Ranger editor who last spring was named the 2014-15 TCCJA Journalist of the Year, gave a presentation in Austin about the summer internship she completed at the Corpus Christi Caller-Times. She is the second TCCJA Journalist of the Year from AC. Madelyn Bankhead Vieth won the honor and the internship in 2009. TCCJA has given the award since 2005.
Myers, Castro-Crist and Kranthoven also have worked as part-time reporters or editors at the Amarillo Globe-News.
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