Wingspan, Laramie County Community College’s student media organization, earned several awards from three national journalism organizations during the spring 2019 semester.
The American Scholastic Press Association honored Wingspan with a first-place award with special merit for Best Scholastic Newspaper, extending Wingspan’s 29-year streak of winning either first place or first place with special merit in this contest. Wingspan also was honored for Best Outstanding Feature Section and Outstanding Service to the Community.
The Wingspan staff received a regional first place Mark of Excellence award by the Society of Professional Journalists for the Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper. Jenna Piper, a former editor, was a regional winner and a national finalist in General Column Writing. Piper’s column, about her sponsorship of an Indonesian boy who lives in extreme poverty, placed third nationally in the College Media Association’s annual Pinnacle awards.
In the regional Mark of Excellence contest sponsored by SPJ, Wingspan won the following:
- Editorial Writing: Wingspan staff
- In-depth Reporting: Carolyn Tomanek, Courtney Walston, Christopher Edwards and Josh McLees
- Photo Illustration: Courtney Walston
- General Column Writing: Jenna Piper
- Breaking News Reporting: Courtney Walston and Josh McLees
- General News Reporting: Courtney Walston
- Feature Writing: Courtney Walston
In that same contest, Wingspan was also a finalist in several cateogries:
- Breaking News Reporting: Jenna Piper
- Sports Photography: Will Crawford
- Online/Digital Sports Videography: Irving Mercado
- Best use of Multimedia: Irving Mercado
- Feature Photography: Christopher Edwards
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association acknowledged Wingspan in four categories for news publications:
- Second place – Cultural feature: April Sandoval-Eaton
- Third place – Editorial page design: Jesi Lofink
- Third place – News page design: Jesi Lofink
- Certificate of Merit – Photo story: Christopher Edwards
Wingspan had four editors for the 2018-19 school year: Josh McLees, Will Crawford, Christopher Edwards and Madi Overstreet. Jake Sherlock was the adviser.
Crawford gave credit to the student staff for their hard work and dedication.
“It shows that the staff are really hard workers,” Crawford said. “We know how to have fun and how to be a group that sticks together, but we also know how to get the job done and we know how to make our adviser look good.”
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