The University of Central Arkansas’s student newspaper, The Echo, won 27 awards at last Friday’s Arkansas College Media Association awards, including First Place for General Excellence .
The Echo also swept the First, Second and Third Place awards in the Editorial Writing category, and won First Place in News Writing and First Place in Editorial Cartoon.
It was a banner day for UCA’s literary magazine, yearbook and television news as well, resulting in UCA’s decisive victory in the Sweepstakes category, which tallied the number of awards won by each institution across the breadth of college media.
“The University of Central Arkansas community is very proud of the entire staff of the UCA student newspaper, The Echo,” said UCA President Lu Hardin. “UCA emphasizes excellence in writing and is strongly committed to the Freedom of Information Act. For our students to win the top award in excellence for a student newspaper is a tremendous accomplishment and we applaud their efforts.”
The Echo was judged across two semesters when it was edited separately by Josh Waire and Robyn Green and advised by Donna Lampkin Stephens of the Department of Mass Communication.
“It was fantastic news for UCA and a huge shock overall,” Green said. “It is a testament to the quality of the department and how much potential this university has.”
The Vortex, UCA’s literary magazine, won nine awards, including First Place for Magazine General Excellence, as well as First Place awards for Fiction, Non-Fiction and Photography. It was edited by Jennifer Richardson and advised by Monda Strange Fason of the Department of Writing.
The 2006 edition of UCA’s yearbook, The Scroll, won 18 awards, including First Place for Sports Writing and Academics Writing. It was co-edited by students Wade Miller and Tori Moss, and advised by Polly Walter in the Department of Mass Communication.
UCA News 6, led by student producer Andre Luque, won six awards, including First Place for News/Feature Reporting. Tony Brooks of the Department of Mass Communication is the faculty advisor.