Student Media claim awards in national, state contests

Northwest Missouri State University Student Media capped off the annual student media awards season by raking in national and statewide honors announced by the College Media Business and Advertising Managers (CMBAM) and the Missouri College Media Association (MCMA).

Brooke Vogelsmeier, who served as student advertising manager for The Northwest Missourian during 2021, was named the CMBAM Best Sales or Operations Manager in its national competition. Additionally, Missourian Photo Editor Addalynn Bradbury was named MCMA’s Photojournalist of the Year for 2021.

Vogelsmeier, a senior agricultural media major from Sweet Springs, Missouri, said the CMBAM award was a recognition of all members of The Missourian sales team.

“Receiving this award reflects the entire sales team because they pushed me to be the best manager I could be,” she said. “Each of them worked hard every day and raised the bar for what we defined as a ‘good sales rep,’ thus, pushing me to be a better manager for them.”

Bradbury, a sophomore digital media: content strategy major from Saint Charles, Missouri, who recently was named managing editor of the 2022-23 Tower yearbook, is the seventh Missourian photographer in the last 10 years to win MCMA’s Photojournalist of the Year award.

“I take a lot of pride in my photography, and being awarded Photojournalist of the Year has helped ground my confidence and keep going above what I was already achieving,” Bradbury said.

Tower, which published its 100th anniversary edition last year, was named the best yearbook in the state and captured a total of 10 individual honors, placing in every yearbook category at the competition.

“It goes to show that our dedicated staff was able to develop, plan and execute a cohesive theme for the 100th edition,” AJ Bradbury, a senior interactive digital media: new media major from Saint Charles, Missouri, who served as managing editor of the winning book and is editor-in-chief of this year’s Tower. “Winning this award, along with many others this night, proves that Tower is here to stay and is needed at Northwest Missouri State University. The staff at Tower strives each year to produce a book that highlights memories and showcases them in a beautiful book filled with excellent photographs, copy and design work. This year and with many more to come, we achieved just that.”

The Missourian dominated its division at the MCMA convention, winning more awards than any other school, making it the Sweepstakes Winner for Division 2. The newspaper won 29 awards and placed second in Best Overall Newspaper.

Editor-in-Chief Kendrick Calfee, a senior multimedia journalism major from Maryville who received first place for news writing, said he was grateful for the honors.

“Winning first place in sweepstakes for our division and second place for Best in State exemplifies the importance of our role on campus and in the Maryville community,” Calfee said. “We strive each week to serve our readers by producing compelling journalism that matters. Our small but ample staff brought home 28 individual awards, and for the seventh time in 10 years a Northwest Missourian staffer won photojournalist of the year. This is an incredible honor, reminding us that our work has meaning and purpose.”

A complete list of awards presented to Northwest students and media staffs is provided below.

College Media Business and Advertising Manager (CMBAM) Awards

• Best Sales or Operations Manager: Brooke Vogelsmeier
• Best Incentive Program: third place
• Best Account Executive: Grace, honorable mention 

Missouri College Media Association (MCMA) Awards

Tower yearbook

Yearbook Feature Photography

• MaryAnn Johnson, “Let’s get down to business,” third place

Feature Writing

• Abigail Starr, “Campus heroes,” second place

Personality Sketch

• Kourtnie Stenwall, “This is not where you end,” first place
• Abigail Starr, “Just keep swimming,” third place

Student Life Design

• Keegan Holmes, “Coping with Coronavirus,” first place
• Keegan Holmes, “Sister Search,” third place

Sports Design

• Emily Kunkel, “Football Tackles COVID-19,” first place
• Madison Bradbury, “Get Your Head in the Game,” second place
• Christina Morris, “Running with New Records,” third place

Portrait Design

• Keegan Holmes, first place

Overall Theme Development

• Tower staff, first place

The Northwest Missourian newspaper

Photojournalist of the Year

• Addalynn Bradbury

News Writing

• Kendrick Calfee, “Shortages, hike in food prices hinder local restaurants,” first place

Editorial Writing

• The Northwest Missourian Editorial Board, “We are tired of regurgitating COVID-19 advice,” first place
• The Northwest Missourian Editorial Board, “The next appointment to the Northwest Board of Regents needed to be a person of color,” second place

Feature Writing

• Andrew Wegley, “A year of loss in Nodaway County,” first place
• Jon Walker, “Transfer running back, family impacted by wrath of Hurricane Ida,” second place

Sports Writing

• Jon Walker, “No. 2 Northwest football uses late-game heroics to beat MIAA foe Pitt State in comeback thriller,” first place
• Wesley Miller, “Northwest soccer falls short to No. 17 Emporia State in semifinals of MIAA Tournament,” second place
• Jon Walker, “No. 1 Northwest men’s basketball fights through ‘ugly basketball’ for win over No. 21 Seattle Pacific,” third place

In-Depth News Reporting

• Andrew Wegley, “Eight months after viral video, Northwest grapples with its legacy as changes roll out,” first place
• Madeline Mapes, “On-ground classes helped save Northwest from cuts to faculty, staff,” third place

Column

• Andrew Wegley, “Water outrage is a dog whistle,” first place
• Corbin Smith, “Interracial relationships aren’t as Black and white as you might think,” second place
• Nathan English, “Men need to do better at stopping sexual violence,” third place

News Photography

• Addalynn Bradbury, "Nodaway County Sheriff Randy Strong points to fire damage in a jail cell where the fire started Jan. 14,” second place
• Addalynn Bradbury, “Ken Greene receives his first Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the second mass vaccination clinic Feb. 4 in the Hughes Fieldhouse," honorable mention

Feature Photography

• Addalynn Bradbury, “Northwest women’s soccer coach Marc Gordon directs players in their practice exercise before their MIAA Tournament against Washburn Nov. 3,” third place
• MaryAnn Johnson, “Sophomore Christina Short shows off her acting skills for the photo,” honorable mention
• Addalynn Bradbury, "Larry Ecker stands with his wife Sharron Ecker under an Ecker’s Dairy sign proudly displayed in their front yard,” honorable mention

Sports Photography

• Addalynn Bradbury, “Northwest football senior wideout Kaden Davis leaps toward a pylon at the south end zone in Bearcat Stadium for a touchdown,” first place
• Addalynn Bradbury, “Freshmen Abby Brunssen and Kristen Ford cheer together after winning their second set of the Northwest women’s 4-1 volleyball game,” third place

Political/Editorial Cartoon

• Alexandria Mesz, “Cartoon 10/28/21,” first place

Information Graphic

• Sidney Lowry, “Opioid overdose death rate per 100,000,” first place

Story Illustration

• MaKayla Polak and Rachel Adamson, “The video and the aftermath,” second place

Page One Design

• MaKayla Polak, “Mask Off,” first place

Editorial/Op Ed Page Design

• MaKayla Polak and Nathan English, “Here again,” first place

Sports Page Design

• MaKayla Polak, “Wright pays homage to late friend, former coach,” second place
• MaKayla Polak, “In the hunt,” honorable mention

Feature Page Design

• Cecilia Nguyen, “Ecker’s Dairy,” second place

Website

• The Northwest Missourian, honorable mention

Sweepstakes (best in division)

• The Northwest Missourian, first place

Best Overall Newspaper

• The Northwest Missourian, second place