Jones College won 16 awards at the 2024 Better News/Media Contest held in conjunction with the 27th annual O.C. McDavid Journalism Summit on March 20 in Ridgeland.
The Executive Director of the Mississippi Press Association, Layne Bruce, was the host for the event. Bruce has been a part of the Mississippi Press Association since 2006 and became executive director shortly after in 2007.
“Papers that cover a broad variety of topics related to school and student leadership, features stories on culture and entertainment, and, of course, athletics resonate the best with our judges,” said Bruce.
Both community college and university newspapers competed in respective categories, while in other categories, the two-year colleges had to compete against universities.
The Jones newspaper, the Radionian, swept the Best General News Story category, with Haidyn Houston winning third place for her story on the Hometown remodeled campus home, second place for Destiny Velasco for her story on the tennis team helping with hurricane relief, and first place for Jaylynn Conner for her story on AI technology in education.
In Best Feature Photo, the Radionian took all three spots: third place, Sami Jordan for her photo Cozy by the Fireplace, for its professional, stock photo-like qualities. Jordan also received second place for her photo of Philosophy instructor John Stockstill. Gabriela Moncivais received first place for her photo of a cosmetology student working in the lab.
Jordan, a sophomore and journalism student at Jones, has served as a Radionian editor for more than a year. She is also a photographer for the newspaper and has submitted stories for the Radionian website.
“Our newspaper winning 16 total awards including General Excellence and Best Website is extremely rewarding,” said Jordan. We (editors) have spent hours reading and editing articles, so it brings much pride when I see our time has paid off. I’m very proud of the entire newspaper staff, this year’s and last’s.”
In the Best General News Photo category, against all colleges, Haley Shepherd received third place for her Color Run photo.
Under Best Sports Photo, Reagan McLeod received third place for men’s basketball, and Ella Thomas received first place for her men’s soccer action shot.
In the Best General Interest Column category against all colleges and universities, Rylee Burks placed third for her column on Cheap College Eats for students.
The Radionian once again swept a category for Best Feature Story, with Jayla Jones placing third for her story on a NICU fundraiser in memory of infant Myles Jaxon Jones.
Jayla Jones also received second place, this time for a story on a Jones student who lost her eyesight. First place went to Jacarious Roberts, on his story of a student who found refuge at Jones.
Jones College has a winning reputation at the conference, placing every year. The most awards The Radionian took home was in 2014, with 28 awards in total, 13 of those first place awards.
Newspaper advisor Kelly Atwood is grateful for the success of her students. This year, Atwood submitted the work of at least 15 students in competition.
“My experience as the newspaper instructor has remained consistent through the years because what I do is all about the students,” she said. “As long as I have students who are passionate about writing and wanting to learn to write in journalistic style, I’ll be excited to come to work.”
Students interested in joining the Radionian staff should contact Atwood at Kelly.atwood@jcjc.edu
The Newspaper conference was founded in 1998 to honor the life and memory of O.C. McDavid, the longtime editor of the Jackson Daily News.
The awards competition and summit are funded by the McDavid Fund of the Mississippi Press Foundation.
by JC Roberts
