MSU senior journalist earns university’s first national Pinnacle Award
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State senior communication major Kate Myers is the university’s first student to win a national Pinnacle Award, one of collegiate journalism’s highest honors.
Myers, editor-in-chief of MSU’s student newspaper, The Reflector, earned the award at this month’s Fall National College Media Convention, held in Kansas City, Missouri, where Bulldog student journalists earned nine total national honors.
“We are thrilled to see this type of validation of our faculty excellence in teaching and quality of the output of student journalism,” said Terry Likes, head of MSU’s Department of Communication, Media and Theatre.
Myers, a native of Ruston, Louisiana, won first place in the Division I Series category for her reporting on MSU’s student government. Presented by the College Media Association, the Pinnacle Award recognizes outstanding achievement in collegiate journalism.
Myers competed against student journalists from the University of Tennessee, San Jose State University, Texas A&M University and the City University of New York. Her reporting also drew widespread attention, with more than half a million views across social media platforms.
She also won an honorable mention for another article in the Pinnacle Awards division, as well as a Best of Show Top 10 for an additional entry.
Noah McCord, a senior software engineering major from Taylorsville and Reflector photo editor, earned recognition in three national photography categories, including second place in the Associated Collegiate Press Best of Show News/Feature Photo category.
Seven MSU students and Reflector advisor Josh Foreman, a faculty member in the Department of Communication, Media and Theatre, attended the convention, where students attended professional development sessions, heard from leading media professionals and shared their experiences as student journalists at MSU.
The Department of Communication, Media and Theatre is part of MSU’s College of Arts and Sciences.
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