UT Tyler Receives 34 Awards for Mass Media Excellence

The University of Texas at Tyler won 34 awards at the annual Texas Intercollegiate Press Association’s annual convention.

TIPA, the largest organization of college mass communication programs in Texas, each year recognizes excellence in writing, photography, broadcasting, videography, public relations and publication design.

The awards were presented during the organization’s annual convention April 11-13 in San Marcos. During the convention, students took advantage of training and job recruitment opportunities and also competed against other journalism students from across the state.

The Patriot Talon’s website, thepatriottalon.com, was selected as being the best website among colleges in its classification and was also honored for its design.

Nathan Witt, the editor-in-chief of The Patriot Talon, was also elected vice president of TIPA’s student board.

“Our mass media students are doing amazing work, which often goes unnoticed, so it is gratifying to see them being recognized as among the very best in the state,” said Danny Mogle, the Patriot Talon’s student media adviser.

Awards are presented for competitions held during the convention and for work published in 2023. In all, 14 UT Tyler students won awards.

Receiving awards for on-site competitions were:

• Karleigh Yancy, 2^nd place, radio news announcing;
• Nayeli Carrillo, 3^rd place, Spanish radio news announcing; and
• Brynna Williamson, Honorable Mention, feature writing.

Several students took home awards for work published in 2023.

Nathan Witt

• 1^st place, social media breaking news
• 1^st and 3^rd place, interactive ad design
• 1^st and 2^nd place, static ad design
• 2^nd, place, feature photography
• 3^rd, place, breaking news story
• 3^rd place, documentary
• 3^rd place, interactive ad design
• HM, feature story
• HM, in-depth reporting
• HM, podcast
• HM, advertising campaign

Brynna Williamson

• 1^st place, social media breaking news
• 1^st place, in-depth video reporting
• HM, breaking news story

Luke Spence

• 1^st place, social media breaking news
• 2^nd place, breaking news photo

Abigail Smith

• 2^nd place, general news story
• 2^nd place, program production video

Elaina Gonzalez

• HM, critical review
• HM, general column

LaKyndra Larkin

• 1^st place, general news audio story
• 2^nd place, feature reporting video

Paulina Mata

• 1^st place, critical review

Ashod Gardin 

• HM, sports commentary

Jallen Sullivan

• 1^st place, multimedia sports story

Santiago Nuñez

• 2^nd place, feature story

Kai Kirkham

• 2^nd place, cartoon strip

Bart Hisel

• HM, graphic