South Plains College students earn state press awards
LEVELLAND – The Plainsman Press staff at South Plains College recently was recognized with 14 awards from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association.
The awards were announced during the annual TIPA spring competition and convention at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in downtown Dallas. There were 474 participants representing 44 colleges and universities from across the state at the event. TIPA is the largest student press association in the nation.
The Plainsman Press also was recognized with an Honorable Mention Award in the category of Overall Newspaper Design.
In the competition for Previously Published Material, Riley Golden, sophomore print journalism major from Lubbock, placed first in the category of Critical Review for his article on the “Justice League” movie. Golden also placed second in the Feature Story category for his article on “Comic Culture.”
Dominick Puente, sophomore print journalism major from Levelland, placed first in the category of Sports Column for a story he wrote about NFL players protesting by kneeling during the “National Anthem.”
Photographers for the Plainsman Press swept the top three places in the category of Breaking News Photo. Tovi Oyervidez, sophomore photojournalism major from Lubbock, placed first for her photo of the Women’s March that was held in Lubbock. She also placed second for her photo of the opening of the Lubbock Center campus and Annie Golden, freshman from Lubbock, placed third for her photo of the Miss Caprock Pageant.
Nicole Lopez, print journalism major from Amherst, won three awards. She placed second in the Feature Story category for her feature about a young man who creates music for video games. She also received a pair of Honorable Mention awards in the category of Sports Feature Story for an article on Felix Kosgei of the SPC men’s track and field team and in the Critical Review category for her article featuring the “Battlefront II” video game.
Matt Molinar of Levelland, currently a junior public relations major at Texas Tech University, also received a pair of Honorable Mention awards. One was in the category of In-Depth Series/Investigative Reporting for a series on prostitution called “Risque Business.” The second was in the category of Opinion/Editorial Page Design.
Tyler York from Tallahassee, Fla., placed third in the category of Photo Story for his article and photos on the Cadillac Ranch near Amarillo.
The Plainsman Press staff also placed third in category of Headline Writing.
Students participating in the trip and also competing in live contests were: Autumn Bippert, freshman photojournalism major from Georgetown, who competed in Newspaper Design and Sports Photography; Tina Gonzalez, freshman public relations major from Lubbock who competed in PR News Release Writing and PR Crisis Management; Randi Jines, freshman print journalism major from Gruver who competed in Editorial Writing and Headline Writing; Madison Benavidez, freshman print journalism major from Gail who competed in Feature Writing; Adan Rubio, freshman print journalism major from Lubbock who competed in News Writing; and Kendall Rainer, freshman general studies major from Georgetown.
Plainsman Press staff members have won 170 awards in TIPA competitions since 2004.
