Northwestern News named Best College Newspaper in State by Oklahoma Press Association

The Northwestern News won the highest award for college newspapers in the state during the Oklahoma Press Association's 2022 Better Newspaper Contest on June 10 along with 25 other awards in various categories.

The News won the Sequoyah Award, the press association's highest award for a newspaper in each of the contest's nine divisions. The News won more points than any other collegiate newspaper in the state for its content. Judges assigned points based on the quality of the paper's news content, photography, layout and design, editorial writing, sports coverage and advertising.

The News had 500 points in Division 9, which includes college newspapers from Cameron University, Langston University, Oklahoma City University, Oklahoma State University and Rose State College.

The honors were given during the press association's annual awards banquet at the Grand Casino Hotel & Resort in Shawnee.

"The Northwestern News staff is honored and humbled to receive this recognition," said Jordan Green, who served as the paper's editor-in-chief from January 2021 to May 2023. "The Sequoyah Award is the highest award a newspaper can earn in its division in Oklahoma, and we don't take lightly the honor of being named the best collegiate paper in the state. We are extremely grateful."

The News won the first-place awards in news content, advertising and photography, second place in layout and design, and third place in sports coverage and editorial writing.

News staffers also took home nine first-place awards for teamwork and individual work produced in 2022.

News staffers Cade Kennedy, Connor Gray and Green won the first-place award for in-depth reporting for their story series "Help Wanted: Struggles of Hiring in Rural Oklahoma."

Kennedy is an Alva junior majoring in mass communication, and he served as the News' sports editor. Gray, a Perkins native, was the News' online editor. He and Green, a Blackwell native, graduated with bachelor's degrees in mass communication in May.

News staffers also took the second place award in the in-depth category for "Money talks: Examining Northwestern scholarships. The authors included May mass communication graduates Joshua Hinton, Pond Creek; Caitlin Hofen, Alva, who served as the News' features editor; Benjamin Kliewer, Mountain View, and Jara Reeder, Elk City.

Colby Dalton, a former mass communication major from Amarillo, Texas, who served as the News' photo editor, won the first place award for feature photography with a portrait of a Northwestern rodeo team member.

J.D. Eddy, a graduate student from Tuttle who served as the News' editorial editor, won the first place award for sports photography with an image of the Northwestern football team.

Derrick Galindo, a mass communication major from Alva who serves as the News' advertising manager, won first-place awards for small-space advertising and large-space advertising. The advertisements were for Cookie's Bowl and Café of Alva and the annual Alva High School pumpkin roll sale, respectively.

Green won first for column writing. He submitted three personal columns written during 2022 based on the topics of friendship and mentorship. He won the first place award for news photography with a photo from the September car show in downtown Alva, and he won the first place award for a front page design with the Oct. 27 edition.

Kennedy won the first place award for education reporting for his portion of the "Help Wanted" series, titled "Small schools face teacher shortage."

News staffers took home several second and third-place awards as well.

Dalton won the second and third-place awards for news photography with a photo of a university e-gaming event and a photo of the September car show, respectively. He also won the third-place award for feature photography with a photo of the 2022 Miss Northwestern crowning.

Green won the second and third-place awards for news stories. The two stories discussed the university's response to the coronavirus and a public safety incident on campus, respectively. He also won the second-place award for feature photography with a portrait of an Alva man.

Hofen won the second place award for business stories with her reporting on the impact of small businesses in Alva.

Dylan Whitely, a 2022 mass communication graduate from Alva, won the third-place award for business stories with his reporting on nutritional teas.

Eddy won the second-place award for sports photography with a photo of the Northwestern vs. Southwestern football game.

The Oklahoma Press Association, which represents the state's news industry, plays host to the annual Better Newspaper Contest to recognize journalism at newspapers of all sizes. Each spring, journalists at print and digital media outlets from across the state submit work they produced the prior year.

Green credited the News' awards to teamwork, quality instruction and, above all, passion.

"The News team is made up of talented, dedicated student journalists who love Northwestern and love helping people," Green said. "We have loved every minute of serving our campus community, even when the going got tough. We couldn't do what we do without our readers, campus community and professors. Our newspaper adviser, Dr. Kaylene Armstrong, is the best out there, and we are blessed to have her. The university has supported us strongly. We can't say 'thank you' enough to everyone who made this possible. For those of us who have recently graduated, we are so glad to be able to end our time at Northwestern – and the News – on such a high note."

Armstrong said: "Winning the Sequoyah has been a staff goal for some time. I am so proud of this staff, who so deserve this honor. They worked hard and always gave it their best, and the judges recognized it."

For more information about the Northwestern mass communication program, visit https://www.nwosu.edu/school-of-arts-and-sciences/communication/mass-communication. To read articles published in the Northwestern News, visit https://northwesternnews.rangerpulse.com.