Breaking News Division 1
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- Place Name: First Place
Contestant Name: Retrograde
Entry Title: Professors sue UTD over pro-Palestine encampment arrest, alleging retaliation and rights violations
Entry Credit: Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez, Maria Shaikh, Tyler Crivella
Judge Comment: An incredibly good job of weaving together a breaking story with an immense amount of background on the topic. The ability to wade through the court documents while also adding human elements to the story makes this a winner.
- Place Name: Second Place
Contestant Name: UT-Arlington
Entry Title: Tarrant County approves redistricting plan
Entry Credit: Pedro Malkomes, Taylor Sansom
Judge Comment: Event stories that have tight votes on deadlines can make for a stressful life for reporters as well as difficult assignments for them. The piece here provides readers with the crucial information they need to understand what happened, why it matters to them and what the overall future will be when it comes to elections. Nice work on deadline.
- Place Name: Third Place
Contestant Name: University of North Texas
Entry Title: University students remove art piece from Union Art Gallery following state representative’s letter claiming antisemitism, UNT system administration says
Entry Credit: Chris Moss, Hannah Everett
Judge Comment: A strong story in a tough category. The conflict between expression and legal concerns is on full display here, with some great use of detailed reporting as well as layering in the work of other outlets.
- Place Name: Honorable Mention
Contestant Name: A&M-College Station
Entry Title: Here's what to know as 15 A&M students lose legal status
Entry Credit: Nicolas Gutteridge
Judge Comment: Perhaps the best breakdown of the "what, so what and now what" aspects of stories related to immigration revisions and student impacts. Great use of headers to explain things simply and clearly to the students on the campus.
- Competition Comment: What makes for a breaking story is in the eye of the beholder, as is well-displayed in this category. The work of the journalists in this category made for difficult decisions, given their tenacity to find important sources, their work to explain difficult concepts and their overall desire to make things matter to their readers. This category was a joy to judge.
