Contact: Sarah Nicholas

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State University students this semester garnered top prizes in three journalism competitions throughout the country, bringing home first place wins at the state, regional and national levels.

MSU’s student newspaper, The Reflector, earned the top honor—first place in General Excellence—in the Mississippi Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper Contest Student Division competition held virtually this spring.

In addition to the first place General Excellence award, The Reflector won first and second place in Best Use of Social Media; second place in Best Editorials, Best Front Page, and Best Use of Video; and third place in Best Series/Investigative Feature and Best Layout and Design.

2021 individual MPA winners from MSU include:

ATLANTA, Georgia—Mary Georgia Hamilton, senior business administration major; first place, Best Sports Photo and Best Feature Photo; third place, General News Photo.

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana—Michael O. Bourgeois, junior English and history double-major; second place, Best General Interest Column.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama—Jordan M. Smith, junior communication/public relations major; third place, Best Sports Photo.

BRANDON—Riley J. Stephens, senior English major; third place, Best General Interest Column. 

BRIGHTON, Tennessee—Gracie Bell, junior wildlife, fisheries and aquaculture major; second place, Best Feature Photo.

DAPHNE, Alabama—Brandon A. Grisham, fall 2020 business information systems graduate; first place, Best Use of Social Media. 

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama—Hannah R. Blankenship, senior communication/journalism and foreign language/Spanish double-major, and The Reflector’s new editor-in-chief; second and third place, Best General News Story.

LOUISVILLE—Daniel J. Dye, senior biological sciences major; third place, Best Feature Story.

MEMPHIS, Tennessee—John M. Haynes, fall 2020 history and foreign language/classics graduate; first place, Best General Interest Column.

SPRINGDALE, Arkansas—Hunter J. Cloud, fall 2020 communication/journalism graduate; first place, Best Sports Column.

WAVELAND—Savannah C. Bonds, senior art major; third place, Best Cartoon and Best Graphic.

“We started this year not even knowing whether we would print a physical copy of the paper,” said Josh Foreman, MSU communication instructor and The Reflector faculty advisor. “These student journalists put in long hours week after week during the school year, and awards like these prove their efforts are worth it, and that people are paying attention.” 

At the 2021 Southeast Journalism Conference held virtually in March, MSU—as a group entry—received second place for Best College Video News Program (Take 30) and Best College Radio Station; and fourth place for Best College Audio News Program.

Individual SEJC winners from MSU include:

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama—Sarah Morgan Johnson, senior English major; third place, Best Multimedia Journalist.

CORINTH—T. Bronson Woodruff, spring 2020 communication/broadcasting graduate; first place, Best Radio Feature Reporter or Best TV Hard News Reporter.

HERNANDO—Kamien C. Bell, fall 2020 communication/broadcasting graduate; third place, Best TV Journalist.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama—Hannah R. Blankenship, senior communication/journalism and foreign language/Spanish double-major, and The Reflector’s new editor-in-chief; third place, Best News Writer and Best Journalism Research Paper.

MABEN—Hannah M. Vanderberg, senior communication/broadcasting and public relations major; third place, Best Radio Journalist and Best Radio Hard News Reporter.

“These phenomenal students have had a stellar year, especially during the pandemic,” said Terry Likes, professor and head of MSU’s communication department. “It is nice to see their hard work paying off with this kind of recognition. I’d also like to commend the faculty and those who oversee campus media—The Reflector, WMSV, Take 30 News—for their hard work in preparing our students for excellence.” 

Eight MSU students won top honors at the virtual National Broadcasting Society’s annual competition in March. They include:

CORINTH—T. Bronson Woodruff, spring 2020 communication/broadcasting graduate; grand prize, both for Audio Feature Package and Audio Feature Segment.

DAPHNE, Alabama—Brandon A. Grisham, fall 2020 business information systems graduate; grand prize, Website (along with staff from The Reflector).

HERNANDO—Kamien C. Bell, fall 2020 communication/broadcasting graduate; grand prize, Video News Promo; and Jonathan M. “Jon” Tackett, senior communication/theatre major; grand prize, Short Film (along with J. Hun-En Joswick).

LOUISVILLE, Kentucky—J. Hun-En Joswick, senior art/photography major; grand prize, Short Film (along with Tackett).

MABEN—Hannah M. Vanderberg, senior communication/broadcasting and public relations major; grand prize, Audio News Package.

MARIETTA, Georgia—Kelsey D. Duncan, spring 2020 communication/broadcasting graduate; grand prize, Video Commercial (along with Jeremy A. Hinds and Amari I. Collins).

MEMPHIS, Tennessee—Amari I. Collins, spring 2020 communication/broadcasting graduate; grand prize, Video Commercial (along with Jeremy A. Hinds and Kelsey D. Duncan).

SALTILLO—Jeremy A. Hinds, senior communication/broadcasting major; grand prize, Music Video. Hinds also received grand prize for Video Commercial (along with Kelsey D. Duncan and Amari I. Collins).

Part of the College of Arts and Sciences, MSU’s Department of Communication can be found online at www.comm.msstate.edu.  For more information on the College of Arts and Sciences, visit www.cas.msstate.edu. 

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.