SMU Meadows Student Journalists Win 17 State and Regional Awards
Student journalists took home 12 Texas Intercollegiate Press Association awards, including Reporter and Editor of the Year, and five Mark of Excellence Awards for 2021.
SMU Meadows student journalists took home 12 Texas Intercollegiate Press Association (TIPA) awards for 2021, including two of the most coveted: Reporter of the Year and Editor of the Year.
Students were also honored with five prestigious Mark of Excellence Awards (MOE) for 2021 from the Society of Professional Journalists, Region 8. The region represents colleges and universities across Texas and Oklahoma.
All three of SMU’s student media outlets were represented among the winners in both contests: The Daily Campus, SMU Look and SMU-TV. The TIPA and MOE contests are highly competitive and this was a great showing by our students, said Tony Pederson, who retired in June as SMU’s Belo Foundation Endowed Distinguished Chair in Journalism.
“Across multiple publishing platforms, our students are being recognized for excellence in producing content of great distinction,” he said. “We are proud of them and we are honored to teach them.”
Daily Campus sports editor Kevin Reynolds ’21 was named TIPA’s Reporter of the Year for his coverage of SMU football. “Amazing writing. Ledes that draw you in. Breaking news before anyone else. I didn't think I cared about SMU football, but I sure did after reading Kevin's stories. That's the mark of a gifted sportswriter,” noted one of the judges.
SMU Look magazine editor Mary-Wesley Maddox ’22 was named TIPA’s Editor of the Year for overseeing the 2021 spring/summer and fall/winter issues of the fashion magazine SMU Look. Of Mary-Wesley’s editorship, a judge wrote: “Wow! This is exceptional work and the talent, dedication and persistence of excellence really shows. If I would have picked up this magazine at a newsstand, there's no way I would have thought it was a student-produced piece.”
Allysann Jackson ’22 won first place in the Region 8 MOE contest for Arts/Fashion Journalism for her SMU Look piece “Supporting Style: Young Black fashion designers need more than words to succeed.”
Reynolds also received a first place in the MOE contest for Sports Column Writing for “Heckled and Hurt: Sonny Dykes bows out with a loss to Tulsa.”
Jackson and Reynolds moved on to the national SPJ Mark of Excellence 2021 awards contest this summer, where Jackson’s story was named a finalist in the Arts/Fashion Journalism category in a competition that included universities from across the country.
2021 TIPA Award Winners
Reporter of the Year: Kevin Reynolds, SMU Daily Campus, for coverage of SMU football's 2021 Season
Editor/News Director of the Year: Mary-Wesley Maddox for overseeing the SMU Look Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter 2021 issues
First Place, Sports Game Story: Kevin Reynolds for “SMU drops second-straight game, continues late-season struggles as it falls out of contention in AAC”
First Place, Cover Design, General Magazine: Mary-Wesley Maddox, Taite Zapalac, Isabel Meadows, Sarah Scambray for SMU Look Fall/Winter 2021 issue
Second place, Sports Column: Kevin Reynolds for “What have we learned about SMU through the first three weeks of the season? Pretty much nothing”
Second Place, Overall Excellence, General Magazine: Mary-Wesley Maddox, Sarah Scambray, staff for SMU Look Fall/Winter 2021 issue
Second Place, Story Package Design, Magazine: Mary-Wesley Maddox, Julia Fox, Mary Chammas, Taite Zapalac for “Fashion in Focus: Sharpen your style with this trio of trends”
Second Place, Overall Design, General Magazine: Mary-Wesley Maddox, Sarah Scambray for SMU Look Fall/Winter 2021 issue
Third Place, Sports News Story: Kevin Reynolds for “Heckled and hurt: Sonny Dykes bows out with a loss to Tulsa”
Third Place, Breaking News: Audrey McClure for “Classes Canceled through Tuesday; Students, Faculty Lack Communication”
Third Place, In-Depth News Reporting - Video: Lauren Rangel for “Foster Care and the Pandemic”
Honorable Mention, Sports News Story: Kevin Reynolds for “'I have no clue if this is going to work': Running back T.J. McDaniel chose an alternative recovery process over surgery. Nearly a year later, he's still not playing.”
2021 SPJ Mark of Excellence Award Winners
First Place, Arts/Fashion Journalism: Allysann Jackson for “Supporting Style: Young Black fashion designers need more than words to succeed”
First Place, Sports Column Writing: Kevin Reynolds for “Heckled and Hurt: Sonny Dykes bows out with a loss to Tulsa”
Finalist, Best Student Magazine: SMU Look Staff for SMU Look Fall/Winter 2021 issue
Finalist, General Column Writing: Julia Fox for “The Devil is Thin”
Finalist, Television In-Depth Reporting: Lauren Rangel for “Foster Care and the Pandemic”