The Brookhaven Courier staff earned 28 awards at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association convention at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in San Marcos. The convention ran April 11-13.
The convention welcomed over 300 students and advisers from community colleges and universities all over Texas.
Twenty-four students and four faculty and staff from Dallas College student media attended the convention.
Students and editors were also presented with awards for their previously published work from 2023.
Tabitha Tudor, former editor-in-chief of The Courier, won the Editor of the Year for Two-Year Schools award.
Tudor said: “I feel honored and excited that all the blood, sweat and tears, and hours of work paid off in the end. Doing all that work, there was no expectation of an award, but it never hurts to get one, to really say, ‘You did it.’ It made it all worth it, to see that I did it, I put in the work, and it paid off.”
Students attended a variety of workshops taught from diverse individuals. Workshop leaders ranged from professors and business owners to crime news writers and newscasters – all sharing their stories of how student media, journalism and communication led to success in their careers, personal and professional development.
One workshop was titled How Introverts Can Be Successful in Communications, by Riana Tovar of the public relations and marketing division of Fiesta San Antonio.
Another available workshop, titled Women in Journalism: The World at Your Fingertips, was given by Kym Klass, director of communications at Frazer Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
The keynote address given by Teia Blackshear Collier, president of the Texas Auto Writers Association, on April 12, titled Opening Doors and Creating Pathways.
Michael Tribble, chief content officer of the radio station WAMU 88.5, Washington’s National Public Radio station, was inducted into the TIPA Hall of Fame.
Students also had the chance to compete in a variety of live contests, such as Feature Writing, where they were given an hour in downtown San Marcos to find a story to tell, and then once back at the hotel, another hour to write the best story they could.
Emmy Hardy, editor-at-large for The Courier, who took home second place in the Critical Review live competition, said: “TIPA always provides an excellent opportunity to demonstrate the skills we as the staff have acquired through our work with the paper. The live competitions are a particularly tough but an enjoyable challenge. I am proud to take home second place in Critical Review. As always, I am grateful to my peers and advisers at The Courier for their unwavering support. I would not be the journalist I am today without them.”
Jacqueline Sastre, copy editor at The Courier, said, “My favorite part of the trip was the new projects and challenges that I worked on, alongside the new inside jokes and funny memories I now have with people at The Courier.”
