Columbia Missourian Wins 27 Awards in 2005 Better Newspapers Contest

Tom Warhover Newspaper Journalism Chair

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Columbia Missourian Missouri Press Association Missouri Press Foundation

Columbia, Mo. (Oct. 27, 2005) -- The Columbia Missourian, the Missouri School of Journalism's working newspaper lab for students in news-editorial, design, information graphics and photojournalism, took home 27 awards in the 2005 Missouri Press Foundation's Better Newspapers contest.

Student reporters and photographers won the awards in 19 categories for daily newspapers, competing mainly in the small newspaper category. A highlight for the Missourian was sweeping the top three places in the Class 1 "Best Sports Feature Story" and "Best Investigative Reporting" categories.

LiPo Ching	Brandon Hoops	Michelle Loyalka	Sean McDonnell
Ben Miller	John Miller	Reuben Stern	Marina Walker

The Missourian students garnered 10 first-place finishes, including "General Excellence," "Best Newspaper Design," "Best Front Page," "Best Sports Page," "Best Photo Package," "Best Feature Story" (Joel Currier), "Best Photo Illustration" (Josh Vince), "Best Sports Feature Story" (Kevin Druley), "Best Investigative Reporting" (Marina Walker) and "Best Business Story" (Ben Miller).

"It is comforting to get praise and positive feedback from those outside the journalism community at MU," said junior Kevin Druley.

The Missourian, published six mornings a week, gives students the opportunity to work as real journalists in a daily newspaper setting. Students work side-by-side with professional editors on assignments that are seen throughout Columbia and the surrounding region.

"When you put together great editors with smart, aggressive student-journalists, great things will follow. These awards prove the point over and over," said Tom Warhover, executive editor of the Columbia Missourian.

For students, the Missourian experience is unlike many others.

"The award really reinforces how good the Missouri Journalism School is," said graduate student LiPo Ching. "I've often said that working at the Missourian was a much better experience compared to the summer photo internship I had at a 'real' paper."

The awards were presented Sept. 24 at the 139th Annual Convention and Trade Show of the Missouri Press Association at the Lodge of Four Seasons in Lake Ozark, Mo. For complete results, visit www.mopress.com.

2005 Missouri Press Foundation's Better Newspapers Contest

• General Excellence: First Place, Class 2
• Best Newspaper Design: First Place, Class 1
• Best Front Page: First Place, Class 1
• Best Feature Story: First Place, Joel Currier; Second Place, Mila Koumpilova
• Best News Story: Second Place, Mike Ekey, Amy Rainey, Seth Myers
• Best News Photograph: Third Place, LiPo Ching, Class 1
• Best Feature Photograph: Third Place, Uwe H. Martin, Class 1
• Best Photo Illustration: First Place, Josh Vince; Third Place, Pi Chi Chaung
• Best Photo Package: First Place
• Best Ad Idea or Promotion for the Newspaper: Honorable Mention
• Best Ad Idea of Promotion of an Advertiser: Third Place
• Best Editorial Page: Second Place
• Best Sports Page: First Place
• Best Sports Feature Story: First Place, Kevin Druley; Second Place, Brandon Hoops; Third Place, Sean McDonnell
• Best Sports Column: Third Place, John Miller
• Best Investigative Reporting: First Place, Marina Walker; Second Place, Michelle Dammon Loyalka; Third Place, Adelante Staff; Honorable Mention, Michelle Dammon Loyalka and Kimberly Mitchell
• Best Business Story-News or Feature: First Place, Ben Miller; Honorable Mention, Gaurav Ghose
• Best Story About the Outdoors: Second Place, Kevin Druley
• Best Information Graphics: Honorable Mention, Reuben Stern, Robbie Ketcham