Overall Design - Web ( Division 2)
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- Place Name: First Place
Contestant Name: Tarrant County College
Entry Title: The Collegian Online
Entry Credit: Collegian Staff
Judge Comment: TCC once again hits it out of the park. The staff covers the variety of issues across the multi campus system with clarity, enthusiasm and curiosity. The stories show a keen eye for news. The headlines are straightforward and engaging and accompanied by quality images. I love the paper also has a talented comic artist in TJ Favela. There are some hiccups. The teaser text in the top stories and latest opinion should be summaries, not the beginning of the story. If unable to do in the CMS, then cut it. Why is Alex Hoben not credited for the Parade of Lights multimedia section? Otherwise, there is little to correct with this gold star publication.
- Place Name: Second Place
Contestant Name: Midwestern
Entry Title: The Wichitan
Entry Credit: George Svoboda, Tiffany Haggard, Abby Turner, Samantha DiFiore
Judge Comment: It’s clear staff of the Wichitan have a lot of pride, and it shows. They’ve put a lot of time into the site. Student priorities are clearly defined and easily navigable with a tight layout that’s easy on the eyes. With the right blend of content, ads and events, the site succeeds in telling the story of MSU, an underestimated state school. The choice to make some stories as newsworthy take away from the site as do inconsistent image sizes. The social media shouldn’t be at the bottom but on the side. Ad placement is solid, but more content could fill the sidebar such as social media and deleting redundant news section. Keep newsletter and student feedback sections. Latter is a great choice.
- Place Name: Third Place
Contestant Name: Lamar University
Entry Title: University Press
Entry Credit: UP Staff
Judge Comment: Lamar University Press has a good layout, solid content and a pleasurable overall experience. The choice to make some stories as newsworthy makes me question the depth of either the campus experience or what students are pursuing. Some headlines lack, primarily with hard news and sports, while the features are confusing. A carousel would show the variety of the stories, with one news, one feature, one sports, one commentary and definitely one from the Upbeat. The sidebar lacks. Props for diving into the college newspaper archives.
- Place Name: Honorable Mention
Contestant Name: Del Mar College
Entry Title: Foghorn News
Entry Credit: Foghorn News
Judge Comment: If The Foghorn News isn’t already the pride of Del Mar College, it should be. The stories rotating in the news carousel blend the campus community with the city at large. Props for the distinctive dark background. It gets an honorable mention instead of third place because it needs work the staff is capable of tackling. It’s like the CMS but in the case of, say, PSA: Water conservation starts with you, the image blurs the text. Perhaps a black background would fit. And the Instagram stories are incredible, but where are they on the site? Finally, spacing, spacing, spacing. Space out the entries and cut the long text under campus headlines. You got this.
- Competition Comment: In an age of participation trophies, I wish I could award all of the entries. The newspapers in this category are a reminder even the smallest schools produce quality journalism. I'm proud of the schools, advisors, professors and students.
