ICMA report 1: What the Times won

Three MMU Times Editors with awards--Anna Bohr, multi-media editor; Taylor Zumbach, managing editor; and Billie Barker, copy editor.

It was quite day at the Iowa College Media Association Convention. Because I misread the schedule, and because the parking garage we usually use is a heaping pile of rubble, we completely missed the networking luncheon that was the kickoff ICMA event—and that left me rather bummed.

I was thus put in a sour mood. A foregone feast will do that to me. We had registered for the conference just at noon, an hour late, and there was no shuttle to the lunch spot, but we did find a nearby cafe and I did have a Reuben, one of my favorite sandwiches, so there was that.

I was also missing the opportunity for a media tour, one of my favorite ICMA activities. But then the sessions began, and there was just something about them. There was a student journalism discussion of diversity issues, followed by a young professionals’ panel and then an interesting presentation by a senior Register editor. None of these are new kinds of content for ICMA, but I must say I think we lucked out this year—even if the topics were familiar, I found the speakers to be excellent.

And during a break, I ran into Lyle Muller, and nobody can be in a bad mood for long if you’re a professor and Lyle is trying to recruit your kids for an Iowa Watch project. (Hint, students, I’m on Lyle’s side—yes, you should participate.)

So the afternoon was turning out well, although I was a bit tired and hungry by the time the ICMA awards program came around. The Mount Mercy Times won seven awards—not a record haul for us, but a very nice showing.

Our winners were:

Screen shot of the best news photo of the year.

•    Connor Mahan, first place, best news photograph, for a picture of a young boy searching for a relative’s name at the Moving Wall. It's on page 2 of the PDF.
•    Anna Bohr, second place, best feature photo for a picture from a play rehearsal.
•    Taylor Zumbach, second place, best news photograph, for a volleyball action picture.
•    Billie Barker, second place, best news story. I don’t recall for sure, but I think it was the one she wrote about the author’s speech—Dale Kueter— during the Vietnam series.
•    Madison Coates, third place, best investigative news story, for her freshman CO 120 “enterprise” story on education reform.
•    Taylor Zumbach, third place, best news photograph for a picture of a rose at the Moving Wall. See page one of the same issue that Connor's image is in.
•    Claudia Magana, honorable mention, best sports photograph. Again, the records are at the Times office—I’m pretty sure it was a basketball photo, probably men’s, but could have been women’s.

It was a good night, and we followed the awards ceremony with a hefty meal at Zombie Burger. A nice end to what was, in the end, a nice day. I’m planning to write several more blog posts, so stay tuned. There is a lot to talk about from day one of ICMA.

Don't feed the zombies at Zombie Burger.