Digest wins second place

Students and faculty from the Office of Student Media attended the 10th annual HBCU Newspaper/Media Conference sponsored by the Black College Communication Association that was sponsored by Morgan State University in Baltimore.
Over the course of three days, beginning Thursday, Feb. 14, the students attended sessions such as “Copyediting 101,” “Converging Media,” “Media Law” and “Writing for Radio.”
Between sessions, students exchanged publications and information with other HBCUs and were able to have personal résumé and clip critique time with professionals in the media industry.
Ural Garrett, a junior mass communication, print journalism major from Inglewood, Calif., who is managing editor of the yearbook, cited a session on blogging as his favorite.
“Blogging is a new facet of media. It is news for the common folk. If you are in the right city and having first hand experience in an event, a blog can become really popular.” Garrett notes that the 2008 presidential election has spiked an interest in the younger generation because of up-to the minute bloggers.
The last day of the conference ended with a job fair, hosted by the American Society of Newspaper Editors (ANSE) and an awards banquet. Representatives from Associated Press, Gannett News Service, Google, New York Times and regional newspapers interviewed students and offered job and internship opportunities.
Sports editor Larry Young, also a junior mass communication, print journalism major from Baton Rouge, made the most of the conference by talking to journalist from ESPN including Steven A. Smith.
“Hopefully, I made a lot of life long contacts and got a lot of positive feedback from my stories. I now know what I need to work on for my section.”
During the awards banquet, Derick Hackett, director of the Office of Student Media was voted vice chairman of the BCCA. And Southern alumna and former DIGEST editor-in-chief for the 2004-05 term Janene Tate was named assistant secretary. Tate is now a media specialist at Tuskegee University and is the adviser of TU’s Campus Digest student newspaper.
The (SU) DIGEST picked up several awards. Joshua Halley won 2nd place for Best Individual Photo for “Victory is Ash’s”; Larry Young placed 2nd in Best in Sports News for “Jags Slam Door on TSU 41-34”; Venicia Gray received honorable mention in Best News Series for “Know Your Rights; the DIGEST received another honorable mention for Best News Coverage; Ural L. Garrett took home 1st place for Best Spot News for “Jena 6” and the DIGEST was ranked second for Best Newspaper – Twice Weekly.
“This award means a lot to me and to the two editors-Nikki Bannister and Terry Jones-who helped me develop my writing skills. This award is just not for me, but for the office and those who worked hard as well,” said Garrett.
Jones, who was editor of the DIGEST when the stories that won were written said he was proud of his staff and hopes the paper continues to forge ahead in excellence.
Reiterates Hackett, “I am very proud for the DIGEST to win 2nd place. In the past eight (years) we have been the in top three, which is a good indication to how we will place nationally.”
Next year, the conference will be the held at North Carolina Central in Durham, N.C., and hopes to continue to help young journalist find their voice.