The Daily Mississippian, the University of Mississippi’s independent student-run newspaper, brought 13 collegiate journalism awards to Oxford, including five first place honors. The awards were issued by the Mississippi Press Foundation through its Better News/Media Contest — Student Division for work published in 2023.
The awards were presented in Jackson, Miss., on Thursday, March 21.
The Oct. 26, 2023, sports story “Bleacher bandits: pledging allegiance to actives” earned a first- place award for best sports feature story. The Daily Mississippian also earned first place in the best feature story category for an Oct. 11, 2023, feature on Jennifer Williams, a campus crossing guard. A pair of editorials published before Mississippi’s gubernatorial elections earned first place in the editorials category.
“These are well-written editorial worthy to be on the opinion page of any paper in the state,” judges said.
The Daily Mississippian also brought home first-place awards for best design and best series or investigative package for its work with The Reflector, the student newspaper at Mississippi State University, and the UM School of Journalism and New Media on a series of November 2023 stories, “Climate change in the Magnolia State.”
Newspapers from eight Mississippi colleges and universities submitted 275 entries that were judged by publishers, editors and senior reporters in the Jackson area.
A full list of awards presented to The Daily Mississippian can be found below:
Best Sports Feature Story
1st Place— Clay Hale (Arts and Culture Editor), “Bleacher bandits: pledging allegiance to actives”
2nd Place— Cameron Larkin (Sports Editor), “Chris Beard, Ole Miss and questionable ethics”
Best General Interest Column
3rd Place— Clay Hale (Arts and Culture Editor), Caroline McCutchen (Assistant Arts and Culture Editor), “Ask A&C”
Best Feature Story
1st Place— Jeridiane Ray (Arts and Culture writer), “Meet Jennifer Williams, the ‘Crosswalk Lady’”
Best General News Photo
2nd Place— Violet Jira (editor in chief), “A piece of sheet metal warped and wrapped around a tree by the tornado-force winds in Rolling Fork, Miss. on Mar. 24”
Best Series or Investigative Package
1st Place— The Reflector and The Daily Mississippian, “Climate change in the Magnolia State”
2nd Place— Mary Boyte (former news editor), Hal Fox (managing editor), and Kharley Redmon (enterprise News Editor), “You be the judge: an inside look at ASB”
3rd Place—School of Journalism and New Media, The Daily Mississippian, Sally McDonnell-Barksdale Honors College “Rising tides and temperatures”
Best Editorials
1st Place— The Daily Mississippian Editorial Board (Copy Chief Reese Anderson, Editor in Chief Violet Jira, Sports Editor Cameron Larkin, Opinion Editor Justice Rose, former Managing Editor Zachary Spooner), “The Daily Mississippian editorial board endorses Brandon Presley for governor”
Violet Jira (editor in chief), “From the editor’s desk: Why The Daily Mississippian is making a political endorsement”
Best Design
1st Place— Erin Foley and Libby Flanagan (design editors)
Best Front Page
3rd Place — Erin Foley (design editor)
Best Use of Social Media
2nd Place — Savannah Shook and Avery Thomas (social media managers), @thedailymississippian (Instagram), “Bleacher bandits: pledging allegiance to actives”
General Excellence
2nd Place — The Daily Mississippian
