MSU Reflector named Mississippi Press Foundation’s top student media publication
Contact: Mary Pollitz
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State’s student-run newspaper, The Reflector, received top honors during the O.C. McDavid Journalism Summit in March.
Hosted by the Mississippi Press Association Foundation in Ridgeland, The Reflector was awarded first place in General Excellence among collegiate media during the annual competition, with the University of Mississippi’s The Daily Mississippian and University of Southern Mississippi’s Student Printz receiving second and third, respectively.
The Reflector has earned the General Excellence Award five times in the last six years.
“I’m so glad to see all of the work that my team and I have put in this year be recognized,” Reflector Editor-in-Chief Ivy Rose Ball said. “This year, The Reflector has grown and produced some phenomenal work, and I feel like that was reflected in all of the awards we received. I finished my 47th and final issue of The Reflector as editor-in-chief this weekt, and the skills I’ve learned and the experiences I’ve had through this organization are invaluable and will help me as I go into the professional working world.”
In addition to the first place General Excellence award, The Reflector received first place for Best Series or Investigative Package and Best Editorials, with student staffers winning first-place individual awards for general news, general interest column, feature story, cartoon, news photo, editorials, front page and best use of social media.
Reflector advisor Josh Foreman said the newspaper and its success is the result of the hardworking, news-focused editors, Ball, Managing Editor Lucy Hallmark Anderson and News Editor Kate Myers.
“Those three women thought constantly about what news MSU students would want to know, and what news they needed to know,” he said. “They spent lots of hours sitting in on meetings, reading proposed legislative bills and seeking out interviews. They really fulfilled the role of community journalists by informing the campus of what was going on with their state and local governments. They also developed a new social media outreach strategy that greatly increased the number of people they were reaching through Instagram, Threads and other platforms.”
The oldest student newspaper in the Southeastern Conference, The Reflector has helped thousands of young writers, photographers, designers and editors get their start in media since 1884. Visit https://reflector-online.com/ for more information.
2025 individual MPA winners include (by city)
BRANDON—Gregory Brooks, mechanical engineering junior, third place: feature photo
COLUMBUS—Natalie Staggers, communication graduate student, second place: feature story
HATTIESBURG—Brooks Surber, industrial engineering and business administration senior, first place: Best Sports Photo
LAKE CORMORANT—Daniel Grisham, English senior, second place: sports feature
NEPAL—Samata Luintel, data science and supply chain logistics senior, first place: Best General Interest Column
MUSCLE SHOALS, Alabama—Ivy Rose Ball, communication senior concentrating in print and digital journalism, first place, Best General News Story, Best General News Photo and Best Use of Social Media. Second place: general news photo, series or investigative package. Third place: sports photo
PASS CHRISTIAN—Sophia Timmons, art senior concentrating in graphic design, first place: Best Cartoon.
PELL CITY, Alabama—Gabby Wood, marketing senior, second place: print or digital ad.
RIDGELAND—Lauren McKay, finance sophomore, first place: Best Feature Story
RUSTON, Louisiana—Kate Myers, communication junior concentrating in broadcast and print journalism, first place: Best Front Page and Best Use of Social Media. Second place: general news and series or investigative package. Third place: graphic and use of social media
TAYLORSVILLE—Noah McCord, software engineering senior, second place: sports column and website. Third place: sports news story.
YAZOO CITY—Erin Erter, communication sophomore, third place: general interest column
Mississippi State University is taking care of what matters. Learn more at www.msstate.edu.