Delta Collegiate wins six awards, four honorable mentions at conference

On April 5, the Michigan Community College Press Association honored journalists of the Delta Collegiate with six awards and four honorable mentions in Division 1.

The Delta Collegiate’s student staff won third place in General Excellence. The award was accepted by Karissa Lutz, Editor-in-Chief. Judges noted the Collegiate’s “strong news coverage, features and a variety of graphics and sections.”

Hanna Ferguson, Design Chief, won third place for Journalist of the Year, with the judges acknowledging her “command in the face of newsroom challenges.”

Autumn Villalta, former Editor-in-Chief, won first place in News Story for “Fired Chief sues Delta.” The judge in that category commented that the story was balanced and gave Delta “an opportunity to respond to allegations, which was crucial.”

Don Mathis, correspondent, won second place in Sports Column for “Ready for football?”, with the judge noting that this is “the kind of column that will get people talking and arguing.”

Steve Headings, former Photo Editor, won third place in Sports News Photo for a soccer action shot titled “Emily Balcueva blocks,” with the judge acknowledging the “good peak action.” It was also noted that “Steve is clearly able to stay on task and capture the most important action specific to story’s intended subject.”

Lorena Wygant, Photo Editor, won third place for Sports Feature Photo for her “Baseball season preview” and received an honorable mention for News Photo “Suicide Talk,” with the judge applauding her “for being in situation and caption information.”

Bob Mastroianni, Staff Reporter, received an honorable mention for Headline Writing (“New pre-major is history”), with the judge acknowledging his “nice use of misdirection.”

Kaitlyn Skrzypczak, Associate Web Editor, received an honorable for Multimedia Reporting (“Nutrition on the Go”). The judge commented that it was “an informative piece with math to boot.”

Matt Brown, Opinions Editor, received an honorable mention for Original Cartoon Editorial (“PTSD”).

Karissa Lutz, who has served as Editor-in-Chief for the Delta Collegiate since November, said she’s proud and excited for the paper to be recognized in this way.

“We’ve been working so hard the past two semesters and it’s very fulfilling to be named third best in the state,” she said.12