Students win at TIPA

Shawn Domingues
The Signal
UHCL was represented by The Signal staff and faculty members at the 2013 Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA) convention held in Fort Worth April 4-6.

At the conference, TIPA officials presented student publication and media awards for work produced during the 2012 school year. The UHCL student publications staff won 1 9 awards for their efforts from last year including third place in Ad Design for Carla Bradley, vice president student outreach and communication.

“It makes me very proud to be earning credit on behalf of UHCL,” Bradley said. “We’re such a small campus and to see us beating the large campuses, it feels wonderful!‬‬”

The Signal won first-place awards for Editorial Cartoon by Kalan Lyra, News Story by Joshua Ojeda, Illustration by Cameron Palmer, and Picture Story by Jennifer Ferguson. See sidebar for a full list of UHCL’s awards.

“I learned a lot [on the newspaper staff],” said Cameron Palmer, first-place winner. “It shaped who I am today, got me out of my comfort zone, and showed me how to reach my full potential. The things I learned, I apply everyday in my internship at Moody Gardens.”

This year’s convention was attended by 422 students and 68 advisers from 43 different Texas colleges and universities. The students competed in 30 different on-site contests such as TV News Reporting, News Writing, Critical Review, Design, Photography and Sports Writing. There were also 31 workshops held for the attendees including “Print vs. digital news design: Bridging the divide” and “Finding a job in the changing media world.”

Students competing in the News Story division were taken to an undisclosed location for a staged news event. The Fort Worth Fire Department, along with other first responders, set up the scene of a fiery car crash and train derailment. Contestants then attended a mock press conference and submitted their individual work for Live Television Broadcast, Print News, News Photo, Video News, Radio News and Spanish News.

As one of the nation’s oldest associations of its kind, TIPA offers students and advisers an opportunity to advance their knowledge of the industry.

“TIPA has opened my eyes to different career possibilities and how I could prepare myself for the future,” said Steven Green, TIPA president of student officers. “The organization has allowed me to meet incredible journalists and attend workshops that expand the knowledge I already have. Because of that, TIPA has basically allowed me to choose from a variety of career opportunities and be more prepared for whichever one I choose.”

Nick Bailey, parliamentarian of TIPA, agreed with Green.

“Being involved with TIPA, not only as an officer but just as a journalist, has helped me grow tremendously,” Bailey said. “Being surrounded by colleagues that are just as driven as I am gives me the opportunity to learn from them as well as the multiple workshops. I leave each workshop with tons of notes and ideas that help me to be a better, more versatile journalist.”

The first meeting of TIPA was held at Baylor University in 1909 with a mission to “improve college journalism, to raise the standard of college publications and to bring the colleges and editors into closer and more vital relationship.”

For more than 100 years, TIPA has stayed true to its mission and even added a Hall of Fame to honor individuals from TIPA institutions who have earned notoriety and established professional reputations that uphold the highest standards in their chosen field. Some of the past honorees include former President Lyndon B. Johnson and Walter Cronkite. This year’s recipient was Dan Rather, anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News 1981-2005, the longest such tenure in broadcast journalism history.

Texas was the first state to establish an organization for student publications and TIPA continues to be a leader.

“There are state press associations in other states, but I’m not sure that they go to the extent of the on-site contests like we do,” said Fred Stewart, TIPA’s executive director. There have been speakers and guests at our conventions in the past and they have commented that they have never seen anything like it. So, we may be unique.”

For more information, visit the organization’s website: www.texasipa.org.