Journalism students earn 40 awards at convention.

By Jubenal Aguilar
Editor-in-Chief
[email protected]

The Brookhaven Courier staff broke their awards record at the 2017 Texas Community College Journalism Association convention. The convention was held at The University of Texas at Arlington Oct. 6.

Editors and staff brought home 40 awards – seven more than in 2016 – for their work in The Courier, The Windmill and multimedia projects, as well as on-site competitions.

“I continue to be amazed at the work our editors and staff have accomplished,” Daniel Rodrigue, student publications adviser, said in a campuswide email.

Nineteen of The Courier’s students participated in a simulated texting and driving accident against 14 other two-year colleges from around the state. The Courier’s team placed in nine of the 10 categories.

John C. McClanahan, copy desk chief, won first place for Best Headline.

McClanahan and Stephanie Salas-Vega, managing editor, were the lead writers in the article for the live contest.

Salas-Vega said she was nervous when the awards were announced. “I was shaking in my seat during the awards banquet,” she said.

“Our deep respect for one another and our love for journalism and the high standards we set for our publication made us victorious,” McClanahan said.

The Courier staff took 31 awards from previously published work including 17 for The Courier, six for The Windmill and eight for multimedia projects.

Students also attended a variety of workshops geared toward several aspects of journalism, sports photography, source handling and covering natural disasters.