Jazlyn Urrutia
Staff Writer
Texas A&M University-San Antonio sent 25 students from Jaguar Student Media to attend the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association conference March 18-21 in Denton, Texas.
This includes members of The Mesquite, El Espejo, Jaguar Radio, Jaguar Sports Network and Enlace Media Lab. Students participated in live competitions, attended workshops and networked with communication professionals at job fairs.
A&M-San Antonio alumni also participated, and together participants earned 25 awards.
El Espejo received four awards in the following categories:
- Illustration
- In-Depth Reporting
- Critical Review
El Espejo also received three awards for its magazine, including an honorable mention for best of show and second place for best student magazine and magazine design.
Donna Pazdera, adviser for El Espejo, said she was elated that the magazine won second place for its content and design and expressed her gratitude toward the students in Jaguar Student Media.
“It was very gratifying to find out the magazine won second place overall for its content and design…” Pazdera said. “It is also a testament to our students’ talent. They are competitive with peers from much larger schools, which puts TAMUSA on people’s radar.”
Enlace received eight awards in the following categories:
- Advertising/PSA/Promotion
- Program Production
- Editorial Cartoon
- Live Video News
- Live TV Announcing
- Live News Photo
The event was not just for communication majors.
Biology sophomore Jorge Reyna heard about TIPA because he is a member of Enlace, El Espejo, Jaguar Radio and Jaguar Sports Network. He placed second in the editorial cartoon category and said he competed because he likes to draw and was confident in his abilities.
“I felt like I had the competition in the bag so I was quite confident that I would place,” Reyna said.
Reyna also shared that the most significant challenge of the event was finding a workshop related to his biology major and area of interest.
“The biggest challenge I faced was finding something to do on my downtime,” Reyna said. “Since I’m not a communications major, a large portion of the workshops available didn’t pique my interest.”
The Mesquite received 10 awards in the following categories:
- In-Depth Reporting
- Social Media General Coverage
- Social Media-Breaking News
- Feature Story
- Sports Game Story
- Headline Writing
- Photo Story
- Environmental Portrait
- Photo Illustration
TIPA was not just about winning for some students. Thomas Hernandez, a general studies senior, said the story he and alumni Christian Meza and Erik Estrada worked on was meant to raise awareness among fellow students.
“Winning the award is bittersweet as it recognizes coverage of a student death last semester,” Hernandez said. “Chris, Erik and I devoted significant time to ensuring the story was both respectful of those involved and informative to the community.”
Senior communication major and editor-in-chief of The Mesquite, Trinity Hewtty, took second place in in-depth reporting during her first year at TIPA. She shared in an email that despite the challenges she faced, she did her best.
“I also was encouraged to work harder seeing all the amazing student journalists who do incredible work and are so talented.” Hewtty said.
