Several Branding Iron staff and other members of the University of Wyoming’s Student Media were recognized with awards for outstanding journalism, photography and design at the 120th annual Wyoming Press Association (WPA) conference, held Jan. 17 to 19 in Cheyenne.
Judges for the WPA’s contest selected the winners from a pool of over 200 journalists and press personnel from over 40 newspapers around the state. Student Media was judged in the “Associate Member” category, which included PR firms and professional publications.
Branding Iron Editor in Chief Kaitamaria Pounds and News Editor Elizabeth Chambers took first place for op-ed writing with the editorial “Protect the safety and sanctity of the press,” and Student Media designer Jenny Perez-Bermudez took first place in internally developed advertising with her Toyota ad. Branding Iron photographer Morgan Smith took third place in the photo page or story category with her Homecoming photo spread titled “Game Day.”
“We decided this year that we had some very strong entries, for us to win not one but three is outstanding,” said Student Media Advisor Cary Berry-Smith. She said that she was “thrilled” about the triple win.
Pounds, who co-received the first-place award for Op-Ed writing, said that it was very exciting to win.
“We’re glad to have it reaffirmed that we are a quality newspaper,” she said. “Our writers do an excellent job of finding things on campus that need to be covered and things that we need to take a stance on.”
The Branding Iron editorial team as a whole discussed the content that would be included in the winning editorial, which was about the aftermath of the murder of Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the need to support a free press.
“All of us here at the paper discussed the issue and decided to take a stance on it,” Pounds said. Editorials are a newspaper’s platform to comment on current events or encourage the public to take specific action.
Judges commented that the op-ed was “well-researched and well-written.” They also commented that the Toyota ad was “absolutely amazing in every way,” and the “Game Day” page layout had a “nice overall feeling.”
The staff of the Denver Post and community journalists from North Dakota judged the entries, and the WPA announced the award winners Jan. 19 during the conference’s Pacemaker Luncheon.
The conference also included workshops and seminars designed to educate journalists on recent trends in community journalism, as well as a speech by Governor Mark Gordon. UW President Laurie Nichols also spoke to attendees, opening the Friday night reception.
Pounds said that the conference was “a great learning experience” and that it was very useful to see what other larger papers in the state had done.
A number of UW faculty were also given awards at the conference, with Milton Ontiveroz and Ron Podell from UW Institutional Communications and Michelle Eberle, Micaela Myers and Kyle Spradley from UW Institutional Marketing department receiving commendations for their work.
Although the Branding Iron was not included in the same bracket as professional newspapers, Pounds is still thrilled with the success of Student Media.
“It’s pretty cool to win,” she said.
To read the editorial see UWBrandingiron.com/2018/10/25/protect-the-safety-and-sanctity-of-free-press/.
