The Brookhaven Courier editors and staff received 34 awards from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association, the oldest and one of the largest state collegiate press associations in the country.
“We are so proud of the work these journalism students have done,” Rori Harrington, editorial consultant for The Courier, said.
Every year, TIPA hosts a convention where college journalism students from across the state compete in on-site competitions to test their skills in multiple journalistic disciplines. Additionally, each participating school can submit previously published content to be judged for awards.
The annual convention was scheduled for March 25-28 in Corpus Christi, Texas, this year but was canceled earlier that month due to the growing concerns over the spread of COVID-19. However, the association still awarded students for their previously published content.
The Courier was awarded first place in its division for editorial writing, feature story writing, in-depth reporting, sports page design, website design, breaking news photo, sports feature photo and multimedia feature.
Additionally, the first volume of Texana magazine, published by The Courier, received multiple awards for design as well as second place for overall excellence.
Sam Mott, The Courier’s art director, won three awards including first place for her multimedia feature about Josey Records, a record store in Farmers Branch. “Honestly, it feels great being a winner at TIPA this year because last year was my first time ever going and I didn’t place,” Mott said. “But this year being the second time and receiving three awards feels pretty awesome.”
The Courier’s illustrator, Eriana Ruiz, came in third place with Mott for a photo illustration they collaborated on. “It feels pretty cool being recognized for illustrations that I have worked on,” Ruiz said. “Being acknowledged for anything creative is always the best feeling because that’s one of the ways I get to express myself and for people to notice it in different forms of art mediums that I do is awesome.”
Stephanie Salas-Vega, a former editor for The Courier, won three awards, including two first-place awards for in-depth reporting on student homelessness and for a feature story on Lev Bourliot, a Brookhaven student pursuing photography.
“This is amazing,” Salas-Vega said. “I wrote those stories during my last semester at Brookhaven and I wanted to end my time at The Courier strong. Those two stories were the ones I was most proud of that semester and I’m happy that the hard work I put into them paid off.”