Student Journalists Earn Numerous Awards in Local, Regional and National Competitions

Students in Meadows’ Division of Journalism have won more than 20 awards for work both as individual journalists as well as awards for the student-run media groups as a whole. Work from the SMU Daily Campus newspaper, SMU Look magazine, and SMU-TV has been recognized on local, regional and national levels this school year.

Congratulations to our journalism students and student-run media organizations on their achievements so far this year! Read on for a full list of award winners.

Texas Intercollegiate Press (TIPA) Awards

SMU Look

Best Blog: 

• SMULook.com / Shae Walker, Tyler Martin, Meighan Ashford

Sports News Story, 1st Place

• “Fashion Goals: Women's sports are more popular than ever. If luxury fashion brands want to score with this growing fan base, they need to get in the game and sponsor women's teams.” / Bo Rubenstein

Cover Design, General Magazine, 2nd Place

• SMU Look, Winter 2023/24, “Timeless” / Ella McDonald, Maddie Crisp, Juan Silva, Maddie Miller

Story Package Design, Magazine 1st Place

• SMU Look, “SMU Style Watch: Five fashion moments capturing attention on The Hilltop” / Juan Silva, Maddie Miller, Maddie Crisp

Story Package Design, Magazine, 3rd Place:

• SMU Look, “We Never Go Out of Style: How Taylor Swift used fashion to take her tour to the next level.” / Maddie Crisp, Juan Silva, Sarah Braun, Maddie Miller

SMU Daily Campus

Podcast, 1st Place

• “Money Talks: Let’s do Some Girl Math” / Katie Bergelin

Podcast, 3rd Place

• “The Reel Deal: Yes, Chef!” / Katie Bergelin

General News, 2nd Place

• “SMU’s Pampered Pony” / Caleigh Daugherty

In-depth Reporting, 3rd Place

• “Thinking Theta? Think Again” / Ellis Rold

SMU-TV 

Program Production Video 1st Place

• Hilltop Now Newscast, October 3, 2023 /Lauren McGrath, Katie Bergelin, Cloi Bryan, Peter Warner

News Production, 2nd Place

• Hilltop Now Newscast, April 25, 2023 / Katie Bergelin, Ellis Rold, Litzy Herrera, Tulsi  Lohani

Newscast Video, 2nd Place

• Hilltop Now Newscast, October 3, 2023 / Giovanna Scroggins, Sara Hummadi, Ellis Rold, Hannah O'Gara

General News Video Story, Honorable Mention

• “On the Ballot: Proposed Airport Expansion” / Sara Hummadi

Society of Professional Journalist Region 8 Awards

Investigative Reporting

• Winner: “Thinking Theta? Think again.” / Ellis Rold, The Daily Campus, Southern Methodist University

Podcast (Conversational)

• Winner: “The Pony Pod, Money Talks: Let’s Do Some Girl Math” / Katie Bergelin, The Daily Campus, Southern Methodist University

Arts/Entertainment/Fashion Journalism

• Winner: “Fashion Goals” / Bo Rubenstein, SMU Look, Southern Methodist University

In-depth Reporting

• Finalist: “SMU Archives Reveal Painful Past” / Emma McRae, The Daily Campus, Southern Methodist University

Best Ongoing Magazine

• Finalist: SMU Look / Staff, SMU Look, Southern Methodist University

Winners from the Society of Professional Journalist Region 8 awards will go on to compete nationally; winners from the national competition will be released later this summer.

National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence Awards (Nominations)

Digital Media – Undergraduate: Online News/In-depth Reporting

• “SMU Archives Reveal Painful Past” / Emma McRae
• “Black Hair on a White Campus” / Jordyn Harrell

Digital Media – Undergraduate: Online Feature Reporting

• “The Belonging Gap: How BIPOC Professors Navigate an Anti-DEI Landscape” / Jordyn Harrell
• “She is not the norm: A Young Filmmaker’s Journey to Success” / Melanie Jackson

 
Winners in these nominated categories will be announced later this summer.

In addition to the impressive count of awards won by student journalists, both individually and as a unit, two journalism majors have also been recognized by the Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing (SABEW), the world’s largest organization of business and financial journalists. Senior Elizabeth Guevara recently accepted SMU’s first-ever national award for student business reporting at the annual SABEW conference in Chicago. Guevara took top honors in the Student Journalism-Stories for Professional Media Outlets category of SABEW’s Best in Business Awards for her work as a business reporting intern for The Dallas Morning News during the fall of 2023. And junior Caroline Corbin, a double major in Journalism and Environmental Engineering, contributed as an intern to The Outlaw Ocean Project’s “China: The Superpower of Seafood” project, which won a SABEW award in the International Reporting category.

Elizabeth Guevara poses with her Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing award at the conference in Chicago.