Midwestern State University’s student media won 29 awards at the annual Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA) competition in Denton.

TIPA is a statewide organization of journalism and mass communication programs with a membership of about 75 universities. MSU Texas placed second out of 32 schools in the on-site sweepstakes competition.

MSU’s student newspaper, The Wichitan, was awarded first place for special edition design; third place for overall excellence in social media; and honorable mention for editorial excellence.

Jim Sernoe, chair of the Mass Communication department, said he was especially happy about the sweepstakes competition.

"The first-place university has an enrollment of more than 35,000 students. They brought 30 students to the on-site competition, and we brought five,” he said. “The fact that five students were able to keep up with them is a great reflection on the students and the department.”

Individual students won six first-place awards, seven second-place awards, seven third-place awards, and five honorable mentions.

Those earning first-place awards included: Molly Biera, Roger Taylor, and Cy Whitson for documentary; Madisyn Butler for in-depth news reporting; Samantha Cox for radio news writing; Sabrina Harrison for podcast; Harrison for TV news writing; and Marcus Morris, Stephen Parr, and Abby Turner for video program production.

Those earning second-place awards included: Butler for copy editing, TV sports writing, TV video production, video news package, and video news story; Christian Dold for video sports reporting; and Anna Hull for sports action photo.

Those earning third-place awards included: Tyler Bales, Maria Gandy, and Kyron Hall for documentary; Butler for TV announcing; Kassidi Ferguson and Carma Hulse for sports page design; Harrison for public relations crisis management; Manny Ortiz for sports feature photo; Juliette Saltos Molina for Spanish opinion writing; and Taylor for video advertising/promotion.

Those earning honorable mention awards included: Aaron Burrows, Ferguson, and Harrison for special edition design; Butler for feature writing; Butler, Ferguson, Hull, and Hulse for sports page design; Helen Hamberg for print news writing; and Khloe Sullivan for critical review.

Photo caption: From left-to-right, Tate Greer, Sabrina Harrison, Madisyn Butler, Samantha Cox, and Jazz Guillory with their awards.