Student Journalists Win Awards in State Competition

Leslie Moore of Campbellsville, Ky., left, John Overby, a junior from Jamestown, Ky.,
and Kacie Goode, a junior from Bardstown, Ky., were among  RaiderView staff members
who earned awards at the annual Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Association Convention.

COLUMBIA, Ky. -- Staff members of RaiderView, the student newspaper of Lindsey Wilson College, received 26 awards at the annual Kentucky Intercollegiate Press Association Convention, held last month in in Lexington, Ky.

The awards, which recognize journalistic excellence at Kentucky's colleges and universities, were for work published in 2011. LWC students compete in the 5,000-and-under enrollment category.

"We set high goals for ourselves and worked hard to achieve them," RaiderView editor Leslie Moore said. "Getting some recognition on the state level certainly validates our efforts."

Moore, a journalism senior from Campbellsville, Ky., won first place and a monetary award in the deadline newswriting competition.

LWC students dominated several key areas in the competition, including first- and second-place honors in the coveted feature story category. Nick Schrager, a junior from Lebanon, Ky., earned first-place honors, with Moore taking second.

In the sports feature category, John Overby, a junior from Jamestown, Ky., earned first- and second-place awards, with Brooke Crum, a sophomore from Westerville, Ohio, getting an honorable mention. Overby also placed third in the state in the deadline copy editing competition. He finished second for best sports headline and took a third-place award for best sports column.

"It was truly a great experience," Overby said. "Having some success will only help us strive to top that number of awards next year."

RaiderView staff members also finished strong in several other key areas. Kacie Goode, a junior from Bardstown, Ky., took first place in the investigative reporting category, with LeeAnn Cain, a junior from Whitley, Ky., earning an honorable mention.

Goode also took first place for best house ad, second place for advertising design, third place for informational graphics, and an honorable mention in the news story category.

"Seeing comments from the judges was definitely beneficial," Goode said. "I think the feedback and competition will help us improve in the future."

Goode and Cain also joined junior Matthew Hicks of Columbia and LWC graduate Tiffany Berger of Burksville, Ky., in earning a first-place award in the photo story category. The winning entry documented workers from the local Hispanic community and their challenges. In commenting on the photo story, a judge called the entry a "powerful set of images" and a "nice job telling the story of a segment of our society that most people don't know enough about."

Lindsey Wilson also dominated the headline categories, with Cain earning first- and second-place awards and adding an honorable mention for best news headline. Cain and Schrager also took first and second place respectively in the best feature headline category.

Meagan Ray, an English senior from Elizabethtown, Ky., and Kendall Sewell, a junior from Somerset, Ky., accepted a second-place award for best overall opinion pages. Ray, who serves as RaiderView Perspectives editor, also earned an honorable mention in the commentary category.

In other areas, Jason Hood of Russell Springs, Ky., took third place for a personality profile, Richard Carver received an honorable mention for a sports news story, and Crum finished third in the best sports headline category.

"We had a great experience," Moore said, "but now it's time to get back to work."