Awards & Honors
Reflector defends “General Excellence” title at Mississippi Press Association awards
Mississippi State students took home 11 first-place awards at the 2024 Mississippi Press Association’s Better News/Media conference. The Reflector, Mississippi State’s student newspaper, won “General Excellence” for the fourth year in a row.
Results were announced March 23 at the conference in Ridgeland, Miss. Mississippi State students won first place in several core categories, including “Best General News Story,” “Best General Interest Column,” and “Best Sports Photo.” Overall, Mississippi State students won 25 awards.
“These wins will keep us going for the next year,” said Reflector advisor Josh Foreman. “This is always a highlight of our spring.”
At the conference, students from Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Southern Miss, Jackson State, Mississippi College and several community colleges heard from some of Mississippi’s journalism legends. Felder Rushing, national director of the Garden Writers Association, encouraged students to embrace creativity and ignore naysayers. Sports guru Rick Cleveland shared the story of Dot Ford, an unsung hero in Mississippi high school sports history.
Sam Hughes, a senior Communication major from Biloxi, Miss., won first place in the “Best General News Story” category, first place in the “Best Front Page” category, and second place in the “Best Feature Story” category. The awards add to a growing list of accolades for Hughes; he also won first place in the onsite feature writing category at the Southeast Journalism Conference in February.
“It feels good to be recognized because it makes me feel like my aspirations of becoming a professional journalist are more likely to be realized than ever,” Hughes said.
Reflector Editor-in-Chief Joshua Britt, a senior Information Technology Services major from Nesbit, Miss., holds an unusual distinction: he has been a Reflector editor for all four years of his time at Mississippi State (he was online editor from 2021-2023), and has never known defeat in the “General Excellence” category at the MPA awards. Ole Miss’s Daily Mississippian won second place in the category, and Jackson State’s Blue and White Flash won third place.
Britt won first-place in the “Best Website” category, along with Kennedy Keyes, a senior from Taylorsville, Miss. Britt and Keyes overhauled the Reflector’s website (www.reflector-online.com) over the winter break.
“Competing against the top schools in the state makes this award mean so much more,” Britt said.
Communication Department graduate Amelia Middleton won first place in the “Best Use of Social Media” category for conducting surveys about Netflix usage, and then visualizing the data she collected in a series of graphs.
In an unusual turn for the MPA contest, the “Best Series of Investigative Package” award was given to the Reflector and Ole Miss’s Daily Mississippian for a joint climate change-focused project the two newspapers’ staffs worked on in Fall 2023. Dr. Deb Wenger, who oversees undergraduate studies in journalism at the University of Mississippi, led the project.
Dr. Wenger spoke at the MPA conference, challenging students to think of ways artificial intelligence can be useful without creating ethical problems.
After the awards ceremony, publishers including Jim Prince of the Neshoba Democrat, Tim Kalich of the Greenwood Commonwealth, and William Bronson of the Daily Journal walked over to meet Mississippi State students.
“I just felt really, really proud of everyone,” said Cadence Harvey, a senior Communication major from Canton, Ga., and managing editor of the Reflector. “Sometimes I overlook my role in the newspaper, but seeing everyone’s success and knowing I had a little hand in that makes me feel very proud of myself and of our staff.”
A complete list of award winners is below:
1st - Best General News Story
Sam Hughes, senior Spanish and Communication major from Biloxi, Mississippi
1st - Best Sports Column
Aubrey Carter, junior Communication major from Alabaster, Alabama
1st - Best General Interest Column
Lucy Hallmark, sophomore Biochemistry major from Summit, Mississippi
1st - Best Cartoon
Bryce Yzaguirre, junior Art major from Northport, Alabama
1st - Best Sports Photo
Brooks Surber, junior Industrial Engineering and Business Administration major from Hattiesburg, Mississippi
1st - Best Advertisement
Annalise Rome, senior Communication major from Ridgeland, Mississippi
1st - Best Series or Investigative Package
The Reflector / The Daily Mississippian
1st - Best Graphic
Lucy Hallmark, sophomore Biochemistry major from Summit, Mississippi and Bryce Yzaguirre, junior Art major from Northport, Alabama
1st - Best Front Page
Samuel Hughes, senior Spanish and Communication major from Biloxi, Mississippi
1st - Best Website
Joshua Britt, senior Information Technology Services major from Nesbit, Mississippi and Kennedy Keyes, senior Software Engineering major from Taylorsville, Mississippi
1st - Best Use of Social Media
Amelia Middleton, senior Communication major (graduated) from Hernando, Mississippi
1st - General Excellence
The Reflector
2nd - Best General News Story
Pamela Dankins, senior Communication major (graduated) from Amory, Mississippi
2nd - Best General Interest Column
Grace Sullivan, senior Communication major from Fayette, Ala.
2nd - Best Feature Story
Sam Hughes, senior Spanish and Communication major from Biloxi, Mississippi
2nd - Best Sports Photo
Ivy Rose Ball, junior Communication major from Muscle Shoals, Alabama
2nd - Best Feature Photo
Landon Scheel, senior Communication major (graduated) from Meridian, Mississippi
2nd - Best Advertisement
Annalise Rome, senior Communication major from Ridgeland, Mississippi
3rd - Best Cartoon
Luke Copley, senior English major (graduated) from New York City
3rd - Best General News Photo
Ivy Rose Ball, junior Communication major from Muscle Shoals, Alabama
3rd - Best Sports Photo
Brooks Surber, junior Industrial Engineering and Business Administration major from Hattiesburg, Mississippi
3rd - Best Feature Photo
Ivy Rose Ball, junior Communication major from Muscle Shoals, Alabama
3rd - Best Advertisement
Annalise Rome, senior Communication major from Ridgeland, Mississippi
3rd - Best Editorials
The Reflector
3rd - Best Design
The Reflector