MMU Times Wins 7 ICMA State Awards

 

The Iowa College Media Association award ceremony was both very familiar and very different this year. It is usually held during the Iowa Newspaper Association Convention, but this pandemic winter, the ICMA convention didn’t take place.

Yet, the Thursday night award ceremony did happen Feb. 18. The ceremony, hosted over zoom, was different due to the remoteness of online meetings, and also familiar, with radio awards, TV awards and then “news media” awards, mostly newspaper categories but some online awards, too.

Mount Mercy University’s “Mount Mercy Times” won seven awards. In particular, student Courtney Hoffman, a senior who graduates this year and is managing editor of the Times, was recognized multiple times. Jada Veasey, a nursing junior who is our senior opinion editor, also won several writing awards.

Courtney Hoffman, MMU Times Managing Editor.

The Times has historically done well in certain categories, and again showed the general strength of its opinion writing. The Times was recognized with a first-place award for staff editorials.

The three submitted were written by Jada Veasey, Courtney Hoffman and Veronica Jons, although the whole editorial board has a hand in setting staff positions and crafting editorials. In my opinion, providing a thoughtful, meaningful voice on policy questions on campus is a key role of a student newspaper, and the Times excellence in this category is evidence that it takes that mission seriously and does well in it.

Veronica Jons, editor-in-chief of MMU Times.

Jada Veasey, who I already mentioned, was honored as the best opinion columnist in the state of Iowa in the past year. Jada’s humorous, thoughtful, quirky voice has been a welcome addition to the Times, and it’s good to see her writing recognized on the state level.

Jada Veasey, senior opinion editor.

The Times links its web site to blogs written by editors and staff writers—and two of those won recognition. The best newspaper blog in the state, according to ICMA, is written by Courtney Hoffman, managing editor of the Times. The second best is by staff writer Annie Barkalow.

Image of Annie from her blog.

Annie is a nontraditional age student, and I’m glad that she was able to view the zoom award ceremony Feb. 18. The next day, she told me that she had informed her family of her second-place win, and said her teenage daughter’s reaction was, “mom, it wasn’t first place.” Ouch. In Roman times, to keep a victorious general from having too much hubris, a slave would stand with him in his chariot and whisper in his ear that he was only a flawed human during the general’s victory parade. As a father, I guess I can see that one’s teen offspring often serve the same purpose.

Well, congratulations to the talented student journalist who serve an important role at Mount Mercy by providing the community with a vibrant student news outlet. MMU would be a poorer place without that.

In addition to the first-place awards, the Times won awards in feature photos, profile story and page one design.

Thanks, ICMA volunteers, who are busy faculty at Iowa colleges, made all the busier by thousands of extra adjustments during this time of COVID-19. The zoom awards ceremony, like many large zoom meetings, had a bit of a séance feel to it as some major award winners were asked to speak and there was the “can you hear us, are you there” moments. We had extra soundtrack running under part of the event until students remembered to mute. But ICMA got the job done, and I’m grateful for all the work the officers of ICMA do, for the INA for helping the contest and this ceremony happen—but mostly for the student journalists from many Iowa colleges who all seem to have a great time (based on chat reactions) Thursday.

Below is a list of the seven awards won by the MMU Times, by category. With each is the name of the student or students from MMU honored in the award, comments on the individual entry from the contest judges (professional Iowa journalists provided by INA) and, in some cases, category comments, which were notes from the category judge on the whole let of entries in that category from all Iowa college newspapers.

Here are the awards the Times won:

Best Feature Photo, Second Place, Mount Mercy University- The Mount Mercy Times
Accident Leads Back to School—Hands; Courtney Hoffman
Judge’s comment: The portrait of hands clutching a cane powerfully reinforces the message of "true grit."

Best Profile Story, Third Place, Mount Mercy University- The Mount Mercy Times
Accident Leads Back to School; Courtney Hoffman
Judge’s comment: A nice story that maybe could have used an additional source or two. I would have liked to have seen the social work get moved up to the front. Feels like it could have been shorter.
Category comment: Everybody has a story. The winners in this category run the gamut from people who have an obvious story to people who maybe aren't so obvious. The key to a good profile is a good interview while multiple sources can help flesh out a story. There were a lot of one-source stories in this category.

Best Opinion Writing, First Place, Mount Mercy University- The Mount Mercy Times
Opinion Columns by Jada Veasey
Judge’s comment: A refreshing and engaging writing style made these columns enjoyable to read. The use of analogy and reasoning made them thought-provoking, as well.

Best Blog, First Place, Mount Mercy University- The Mount Mercy Times
Curious Consultations: unsolicited anecdotal advice by Courtney Hoffman
Judge’s comment: Courtney is a conversational and entertaining writer who brings relatable topics front and center for her college audience.
Best Blog, Second Place, Mount Mercy University- The Mount Mercy Times
Anne with an E by Annie Barkalow
Judge’s comment: Through her lens as a nontraditional student, Anne brings her own brand of challenges to the college scene -- and her blog.

Best Staff Editorial(s), First Place, Mount Mercy University- The Mount Mercy Times
Mount Mercy Times staff editorials-Jada Veasey, Veronica Jons, Courtney Hoffman
Judge’s comment: The strength of these staff editorials addressing timely, relevant social issues lay in the numerous examples used to connect them with the local university culture. The specific recommendations offered move each piece beyond mere words into action.

Best Page 1, Third Place, Mount Mercy University- The Mount Mercy Times
Derecho and President Departs by Veronica Jons
Judge’s comment: Very newsy content. Masthead is too large for the page and slightly stronger writing might have pushed this into second.
Category comment: Two things—really focus on your local community. The winners in this category were newspapers that knew their audience and provided information that audience could only get from them. Look at your mastheads and how they balance against the news portion of your page. Watch the use of reverse type, it's hard to read although it can sometimes be an attractive design option used in serious moderation.

Final thought: Iowa universities are beset by many challenges, including, at the state level, a wrong-headed GOP legislature that seems to want to cure was it perceives as free expression problems on campus by a weird series of laws that, in effect, would muzzle expression.

Sort of like in "I Cladius" when the crazy emperor cured a boy's cough by chopping his head off.

Anyway, the Times, like other student media, stands for free expression. As another faculty member reminded us at the ICMA awards ceremony, nobody in your audience cares what you did yesterday, so the challenge is to go out and do it even better tomorrow. I would add, with courage.

My wish for you (link in case video does not show, it doesn't on my phone but does on computer), MMU student journalists and all Iowa student journalists: