The Collegian and AU-Live won multiple awards at the Ohio News Media Association (ONMA) state convention in Columbus, Ohio on Feb. 7. Both medias were named as finalists in five different categories including Arts & Entertainment, Design, Photojournalism, Best Multi-Media Package and Best Website. All entries were based off submissions from the 2017-2018 school year.

“It is always nice when other people recognize the work they do and I’m proud of the ONMA awards they brought home this year,” Collegian and AU-Live advisor, Maggie Cogar said. “Winning second in best website is a tribute to the team effort that goes into covering campus news and winning first in design and art and entertainment shows the growth the staff has made in both design and writing.”

All the awards came from the Ohio Collegiate Division B that had an enrollment of 10,000 and below. The division featured papers from other universities such as Cedarville, John Carroll, Findlay, Capital, Shawnee State, Xavier and Otterbein.

The Collegian staff brought home a first place win for the Arts & Entertainment category. The win was credited to senior Kaitlyn Moore and juniors Justin Davis and Kellie Pleshinger for their feature story work.

The paper was also recognized for its design and earned a second place award in the category. AU-Live took home second place in the Best Website category. The judges comments on the entry said, “Excellent mixture of news and information in a variety of formats.”

Senior Bree Gannon was individually recognized in the Photojournalism category and earned a second place finish. This year’s award topped her third place finish in the same category at last year’s convention.

“Even being named as a finalist was a shock because I felt the pressure to do better than I did last year,” Gannon said. “I was not confident in my work at all but I am so proud of the results and the improvement I had in placement from last year, considering my doubts.”

AU-Live was awarded third place in the Best Multi-Media Package category. Senior Ingrid Schmidt and sophomore Christine Jenkinson were credited with the win for their television package and article titled ‘Fake news and how to avoid it’. The judges said it was a great topic with a solid package.

“I’m proud of the work my students do every day, with or without this recognition. I know how hard they work to produce the news and what they sacrifice to do it well. I know the time they put in and how seriously they take their role as journalists,” Cogar said.