Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University’s Signal and Ouachitonian staff members received 24 awards at the Arkansas College Media Association 2010 Conference held April 9 in Fayetteville, Ark.

“The fact that Ouachita is such a unique and exciting place makes for a unique and exciting yearbook,” said 2010 Ouachitonian Editor-in-Chief Megan Lindsey, a senior mass communications major from Camden, Ark. “Our job is to present an image and memory of Ouachita. By the looks of these awards, I'd say that we've done another great job at doing so.” Linsdey earned two honorable mention awards for her special features and organizations writing.

The Ouachitonian, OBU’s yearbook, earned 17 awards, including third place for general excellence. These awards are based on the 2009 edition of the book, which is the 100^th anniversary edition. It has previously been recognized for excellence as a Gold Medalist by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and has been featured in the Jostens’ 2010 Gotcha Covered Look Book, Volume 8.



“I think people don't really understand what kind of time and dedication the yearbook staff puts into creating the yearbook,” said Cassie Harrell, a junior mass communications major from Ruston, La. “We spend time doing things that no one knows about. It takes time to create a yearbook spread; therefore, when we earn awards, the entire staff is extremely proud.” Harrell earned a first place award for her organization layout “Beta Beta.”

“These awards show that despite the size of Ouachita we can compete and even beat publications from other bigger schools,” said Richard Atkinson, a senior Ouachitonian contributing writer. Atkinson, a senior mass communications and political science double major from Arkadelphia, earned second place honors for yearbook sports writing with “Frisbee.”

2009 Editor Audra Hinson, a 2009 mass communications and Spanish graduate, won first place for her “People” feature layout, “People” theme page and “Academics” divider theme page, as well as for her endsheets, closing theme page and intro theme page. She also earned second place honors for special features writing and third place for art/illustration photo.

Ariel Bealer, a 2009 English graduate, received third place for special features writing. Shea Higgerson, a junior mass communications major from Stuttgart, Ark., received second place in academic layout for “Extending Influences to the World.” Becca Watts, a junior mass communications major from Smackover, Ark., received first place honors in student life layout for both “Old and New Traditions” and “Tiger Tunes.”

In total, The Signal, Ouachita’s student campus newspaper, earned seven awards at the ACMA conference.

Whitney Crews, a senior mass communications major from Jonesboro, Ark., won honorable mention in feature writing for “Children’s Home gives kids a second chance.” Leah Garavelli, a sophomore mass communications major from Olive Branch, Miss., and Annette Whitehead, a recent graphic design graduate received honorable mention in front page layout for “Tunes helps students.” Hannah Holmes, a senior English and history double major from Omaha, Ark., received honorable mention in meeting and speech coverage for “Martin Luther King Jr. Legacy Discussion.” Katie Steele, a sophomore mass communications major from McKinney, Texas, won honorable mention in general column writing for “Survival tips.” Callie Stephens, a junior mass communications major from Conway, Ark., won second place in news photography for “Beauty Queen” and honorable mention in feature photography for “Goldilocks on Trial.”

“These awards are vital to our publications’ success because they add to our credibility and our worthiness, as a newspaper staff, to compete with other public and private universities across the state,” Steele said.

For more information, contact Deborah Root, OBU’s department of mass communications chair, at [email protected] or (870) 245-5510.

By Meg Gosser