TIPA the hat to UHCL student publications for competition wins

Kirstin McNeill

UHCL and Midland Community College students carried protest signs and dressed up as famous characters for the staged protest. Tina Phan: The Univeristy Star, Texas State Univeristy-San Marcos

The Signal Staff

Student publications at the University of Houston-Clear Lake received 24 awards at the annual Texas Intercollegiate Press Association convention March 25-27 in Kerrville.

Seven UHCL communication students competed in various on-site competitions at the 101st annual conference.

Communication majors Corey Benson, Stephanie DuBois, Kirstin McNeill, Anthony Nguyen, Grant Chesshir, William Humbird and Chris Curry competed against students from other Texas colleges and universities at the convention. All students are either current or former members of The Signal and/or Bayousphere editorial staff. UHCL communication alumni Matt Griesmyer and Lindsay Humphrey, and Taleen Washington, director of student publications, and Royce Ann Walker, adjunct instructor of communication, attended the convention as advisers.  

“Every year I am impressed at how well our students fare in these competitions,” Washington said. “Thanks to the collaborative efforts of all the faculty who teach in the Communication program, our students won 24 awards at state. Yet they only have one semester of newspaper and maybe one semester of magazine under their belts.”

TIPA was formed in 1909 by nine Baylor students to help raise awareness of journalism in Texas universities.

“TIPA is a prestigious organization because it is not only the largest and oldest state collegiate press association in the nation, but also because of the caliber and quality of individuals representing TIPA institutions who have become leaders in their chosen fields,” said Fred Stewart, executive director of TIPA and faculty adviser of the Texas A&M University-Commerce newspaper, The East Texan. “These individuals have achieved excellence in the areas of all mass media in addition to education and the political arena. In addition to the quality individuals, TIPA presents a solid experience for students through the spring convention when students have an opportunity to learn from the industry’s best and then display their own skills and talents in on-site competitions. All of this contributes to the excellence of TIPA.”

On-site competitions take place the first day of the TIPA convention and contestants are allotted a specific amount of time to demonstrate skill sets in journalism, design, broadcasting and photography.

“UHCL is very lucky to have had a student place in one of the on-site competitions,” said Corey Benson, Signal editor. “Kirstin McNeill received honorable mention for yearbook design. This is a testament to the creativity and talent of the UHCL Communication program’s students. I was pleasantly surprised when I was announcing the awards in that category and was able to read one of our students’ names.”

While the on-site competition and a majority of the awards were targeted to the print media, UHCL had a newly found online presence.

“Last year Lindsay Humphrey, production assistant for student publications who was a communication major at the time – she’s since graduated – redesigned The Signal Web site to reflect this new age of converging media,” Washington said. “Thanks in large part to her efforts, The Signal staff won their very first awards in the online competitions.”

Grant Chesshir, former Signal assistant designer, dressed as Groucho Marx and pretended to smoke a cigar for the protest at the staged press conference. Tina Phan: The Univeristy Star, Texas State Univeristy-San Marcos

Another first for UHCL was staging a live event for on-site competition – a press conference over Kerrville’s public smoking ban. Participants from UHCL and Midland Community College portrayed protesters, wearing costumes, carrying signs and attempting to interrupt the staged press conference.

“Seeing the event go through planning and helping to prepare for it and having it come to fruition was a great experience,” said Matt Griesmyer, former Signal editor. “Usually on-site competitions are just a typed situation on a piece of paper, but this was so much more like real life. All the participants and contestants truly benefited from the experience.”

Student officers were elected for TIPA and Benson was elected vice president.

“For the very first time in my memory, we have a UHCL student serving as a student council member for TIPA,” Washington said.

The Signal also won two national awards from Columbia Scholastic Press Association for its online presence. The deadline for the pre-published material has been moved until June, so the winners in the print categories for newspaper and magazine will not be announced until later in the year.

The following awards have been won by The Signal and Bayousphere this year:

STATE COMPETITION:  Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA)

On-site (1)

Yearbook Design,  3^rd Place,  Kirstin McNeill

Newspaper (10)

Headline,  1^st Place,  Ruth Garay, Get your foot  …

Sports Column,  2^nd Place,  William Humbird, There are other fish…

Editorial,  3^rd Place,  Clare Kemp, Some rules …

Feature Page Design,  3^rd Place,  Shawnie Boudreaux, Crawfish

News Story,  3^rd Place,  Chris Curry, Zero tolerance

Illustration,  HM,  Christi Minter, Guns

Information Graphic,  HM,  Juan Loya, Survey

Special Edition,  HM,  Staff, Spring Break Issue

Sports Feature,  HM,  Adolfo Gonzalez, WrestleMania

Picture Story,  HM,  Britney Godfrey and Hayley Shaw, Ike

Newspaper Online (7)

Best Video,  1^st Place,  Frank Lemus and Justin Joseph, Air Show

Best Slide Show,  1^st Place,  Mary Ann Wangler, Halloween

Best Slide Show,  2^nd Place,  Jeffry Tupa, Don’t Litter

Best Interactivity,  2^nd Place,  Staff, Signal Web site

Multimedia Package,  2^nd Place,  Matt Griesmyer, Todd Blair and Frank Lemus, GeoCache

Multimedia Package,  3^rd Place,  Frank Lemus and Justin Joseph, Air Show

General Web Excellence,  3^rd Place,  Staff, Signal Web site

Literary Art Magazine (6)

Feature Photo,  1^st Place,  Jorge De La Garza, Eye of the Beholder

Short Story, fiction,  3^rd Place,  Rafael Vasquez, Sophie’s music

Cover Design,  3^rd Place,  Laurie Perez, Bayousphere 2009

Feature Story, nonfiction,  HM,  William Everts, Kingston Greens

Feature Photo,  HM,  Laurie Perez, Can you jump

Poem,  HM,  Alicia Diane Atwood, Rain Cloud

NATIONAL COMPETITION: Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA)

Newspaper Online (2)

Best Video,  3^rd Place,  Frank Lemus and Justin Joseph, Air Show

Web site Design,  HM,  Staff, The Signal Online

Newspaper

Still pending, entries are due in June.

Magazine

Still pending, entries are due in June.