Photo by Madison Meyer
The Best of Show Awards were announced at the Associated Collegiate Press (ACP) Spring National College Media Conference on March 5, and Harding Student Publications placed well in several categories.
The conference was held in Long Beach, California, and began on March 3 and concluded with the Best of Show award ceremony. Among the 500 collegiate journalists and advisers that attended the conference were seniors Everett Kirkman, Caroline Birdwell, Hannah Kellum and faculty adviser April Fatula.
Both The Bison newspaper and the Petit Jean yearbook placed in their respective categories. In the newspaper category for four-year universities with 10,000 students or less, The Bison placed sixth overall. In the yearbook category, the 2021 Petit Jean placed fifth. Additionally, The Link, Harding’s student media network, placed eighth in the website category.
Head photographer for The Bison Madison Meyer earned awards in the photojournalism category. Three different pictures of Meyer’s earned first, second and fourth, respectively.
“I was kind of shocked when I heard that all three of my submissions were placed so well, but I was also excited because it felt like my hard work was finally paying off,” Meyer said. “I love my work as a photojournalist, and these awards definitely encouraged me to keep working hard.”
During the conference, the Harding group attended several breakout sessions held at the convention center. Notably, one of these was led by former editor-in-chief of The Bison Elizabeth Smith. Smith graduated from Harding in 2000 and is now an assistant professor of communication at Pepperdine University.
“We got to hear from advisers from award-winning programs at universities across the country in breakout sessions, and award-winning journalists at general sessions,” Kirkman said.
Her favorite session, “Where the First Amendment ends and the private university begins,” was led by Smith and Peg Achterman, faculty adviser of The Falcon at Seattle Pacific University.
“It was encouraging to hear more about each of their paths to where they are now, each coming from similar experiences in their undergraduate years,” Kirkman said.
Both The Bison and the Petit Jean also attended evaluation sessions where a selected critic gave individualized feedback on recent publications.
“Having an unbiased perspective on our work really helped me see what we are doing well and what we can do better,” Birdwell said. “Going to the conference was a great experience, and it is such a great feeling to be complimented on our work.”
Kirkman thought similarly, saying being recognized among a large number of schools is high praise. “It was also affirming to be recognized with awards,” Kirkman said. “Competing against that many schools, I was ecstatic to place sixth for our paper overall.”
