ABAC newspaper named best in state

Staff Reports

February 17, 2009 09:22 pm

— TIFTON — The student newspaper at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College, “The Stallion,” brought home 17 awards from the recent Georgia College Press Association Better Newspaper Contest, including first place in the General Excellence category, signifying the best newspaper in the state in the two-year college division. Overall, “The Stallion” placed in the top three in all eight of the general award categories.
Managing Editor Richie Knight said the newspaper has even higher goals for the future.
“I am anticipating even better results next year,” Knight, an ag economics/ag business major from Oxford, said. “We are improving both the layout and the content of our newspaper. The staff and I are glad to have the opportunity to serve the ABAC community, and we vow to keep up our good reputation.”
General awards for “The Stallion” included a first place for General Advertising, second place for Best News, Editorial Excellence, and Best Sports categories, and third place for Layout and Design Excellence, Improvement, General Photography Excellence, and Best Features.
The awards covered editions published during the 2008 spring and fall semesters.
The campus paper, advised by Eric Cash, professor of english and journalism at ABAC, also took home eight awards for individual achievement of staff members.
Scotty Barron of Woodstock won first place for Best Editorial, Rebecca Perry of Nashville earned first place for Best Column, and Steven Stubbs of Rochelle and Stephanie Dorough of Tifton shared a first place victory for Best Entertainment Feature.
Second place standings were awarded to Stubbs for Best Sports Photography and to a staff effort for Best Photo Essay. Third place awards were presented to Perry for Best Review and Stubbs for Best News Article and Best Sports Story.
“This is one of the most heart-felt victories that the newspaper has achieved,” Cash, now in his 10th year as faculty advisor, said. “During the past year the bulk of our staff graduated. Our new editors, without any experience at all, held things together through their dedication and hard work. That they managed to prevail against such fierce competition in the state simply astounds me.”
Dorough and Knight were managing editors during the 2008 fall term. Stubbs and Amelia Gutierrez of Clewiston, Fla., were news editors. Other staff members included Parker Ferren of Tallahassee, Fla., sports editor; Dorough, opinion editor; Antonio Gorham of Hinesville, lifestyles editor; Knight, on-line editor; Joanna Ware of Soperton, business manager; and Zebb Luster of Fort Myers, Fla., advertising representative.
During the 2008 spring term, the staff included Kristina Story of Augusta, managing editor; Crissie Elrick of Pembroke, Taylor Hand from Tifton, and Amy Kuczynski from Valdosta, news editors; Stubbs and Geoffrey Brown from Tifton, sports editors; Ansley Fender from Tifton, opinion editor; Adam Smith from Tifton and Dorough, lifestyle editors; Shekanah Ficklin from Albany, on-line editor; and Cecil Walls of Denton, business manager.
Georgia Highlands College took second place in General Excellence in the two-year division and Gainesville College finished third. “The Stallion” also placed first in last year’s contest.