The Carrier claimed nine awards for journalism excellence in this year’s Georgia College Press Association Better Newspaper Contest. The newspaper received the second place award for general excellence in its division at the annual awards ceremony, held Saturday at the GCPA Press Institute in Athens, Ga.
Viking Fusion also won first place for Best Website for the second consecutive year.
Staff achievement within a variety of categories was awarded in the Senior B Division, which includes all Georgia colleges and universities with enrollments under 8,000. Campus Carrier staff awards included:
• First place – Best Campus Community Service – Editorial Excellence
• First place – General Photography Excellence
• Second place – Best Campus Community Service – General Excellence
• Second place – Best Campus Community Service – Features
• Third place – Best Campus Community Service – News
• Third place – General Advertising Excellence
Individual Awards: (not divided by size of institution, but by class year at date of publication – Group I – freshmen & sophomores, Group II – juniors & seniors)
• Third Place (Group I) – Best Entertainment Story – Hannah Lewis
• Third Place (Group I) – Best Editorial or Editorial Series – Saif Sarfani
“The Berry community is fortunate to have so many caring and devoted newspaper staff members that consistently try to tell great stories,” Kevin Kleine, senior lecturer of communication and student publications adviser, said. “The future of Georgia journalism is alive and well given what I see here at Berry.”
Student media staff agreed.
“We feel great to get recognition for our work, but the most important thing for us is to serve our fellow students with great coverage of the events and issues that our campus community cares about,” said senior Megan Reed, editor-in-chief.
Junior Rachel Yeates, the Carrier’s managing editor, said she enjoyed meeting other student journalists at the conference.
“The conference was a great opportunity to bounce ideas off of other students doing the same work we do,” she said. “It was also great to see fellow staff members recognized for all the hard work that they put into the Carrier.”
Senior Michael Earhart, executive director of Viking Fusion, said the website, which has been redesigned in the past year, is a “team effort.”
“It kind of validates all the effort that the team put in to redesigning it, and I’m just really proud of our team,” he said.
Senior Faith Mantia, Viking Fusion’s news producer, said the team collaborated to decide how the website redesign would best serve the Berry community.
“We brainstormed ideas of how we could make it easier for viewers to access, and I think we made a lot of improvements on it,” she said.
Steven Hames, Viking Fusion’s faculty adviser, said the recognition shows how much work his students have invested in Fusion.
“To win best website in the state is a testament to all the hard work that the staff puts in, and just being recognized is great,” he said.