Minneapolis is known as a cold spot in February, but The Sojourn news staff from Indiana Wesleyan University got a warm welcome in the form of four major awards at the Associated College Press, Best of the Midwest College Journalism Convention.
IWU student journalists attended the regional convention for the first time, with a packed weekend full of news and storytelling workshops, keynote addresses by media leaders and several rounds of critique and competition with other colleges and universities.
Jeremy Sharp, IWUCom Senior and Sojourn Editor-in-Chief won a first place award for Multimedia Package. His story on IWU groundskeepers, “IWU’s colorful campus” included a video segment, photos and text. Sharp also won a third place in sports writing for the January 2014 story “The rivalry: IWU tops Taylor“.
Brant McCarthy, Design Editor and Graphic Design major, took home a third place for Single Page Design for a front page issue covering severe weather in Fall, 2013.
Finally, The Sojourn website received a fourth place award. Staffers discovered some college newspapers still do not operate web sites, while The Sojourn has been online many years and in 2013 embraced “online first” as its publication strategy.
Sharp said the awards were a nice recognition of the entire staff’s hard work.
“This conference was special. Not only did it give the entire staff a chance to grow in our individual crafts, but it allowed us all to come together and strengthen ourselves as a group…Every award we took home was a team award, and they all show how talented this group really is,” Sharp said.
