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FAMU, Howard, N.C. Central Take Top Awards at Newspaper Conference

By Leroy Mikell
Black College Wire

The 10th Annual National HBCU Newspaper Conference in Baltimore ended with a much-anticipated awards banquet. A few months earlier, students from the nation's HBCUs submitted their best work to a panel of judges from the BCCA.

Evan White The Panther staff of Prairie View A&M

Quentin Gardner, sports editor of The Campus Echo of North Carolina Central University in Durham, said it is a long process to single out the best couple of pieces produced over the course of a year.

"It's a lot, besides our usual production of every issue, it's a lot of work. I had to sit with our adviser and think about what articles we were going to submit and everything. There were a lot of other stories I felt should have made the cut but we could only submit two or three."

Gardner said he looks forward to next year when his school North Carolina Central University hosts the conference.

Evan White The Meter staff of Tennessee State

Awards were up for grabs in 26 categories. Five of the 26 are still in the process of being judged. Dr. Valerie White, chairwoman of the Black College Communication Association, said there was a problem with missing ballots, which did not allow the awards for the five categories to come in on time.

"We might not be able to announce the awards at the ceremony but the schools will be recognized," said Derrick Hackett, BCCA vice chairman.

The five missing categories included best weekly newspaper, best design, best sports photography, best online, and best column.

Top winners included Tennessee State University's newspaper, The Meter, which earned first place for best news series and in depth story or investigation, and Howard University's Hilltop staff for best news coverage.

The award for "best student newspaper" came in two of three parts. The best non-weekly or papers published less than four times a month went to the staff of The Campus Echo at North Carolina Central University; the weekly award was one of the five categories still awaiting judging, and the best newspaper published twice weekly or more went to the staff of the Famuan of Florida A&M University.

A complete listing of all winners is available at the BCCA Web site.

Howard University's editor in chief Drew Costley was already looking forward to next year. "FAMU definitely earned it I think that Southern earned it, but they will see us next year and we will take it. That's a promise." He said his staff went from one award last year to nine this year.

Organizers said the name of the conference has been changed to The National News Media Conference to include a larger demographic.

Leroy Mikell is photography editor for the A&T Register, the student newspaper at North Carolina A&T University.

Posted Feb. 24, 2008