The Gramblinite is no stranger to winning awards for its campus news coverage. This weekend, the Louisiana Press Association announced nine awards for The Gramblinite in the LPA’s 2008 College Newspaper Competition. The Gramblinite walked away with four first-place awards, three second-place, one third-place and one honorable mention at the LPA annual convention Saturday in Baton Rouge.
The first-place awards were won for sports photography, general news or feature photography, graphic design and advertising design.
“It’s an honor to have so many awards this year,” said Gramblinite editor in chief Darryl D. Smith. “It shows there is always greatness at Grambling State University.”
Smith won the two first place photography awards, as well as second place in general news or feature photography and honorable mention for news story or news feature.
It was a clean sweep for Terrance Stokes in the advertising category of black & white one-half page or under ad, earning first-, second- and third-place awards.
DeEric Henry was awarded first and second place for most effective use of graphic design on a single page.
The design judge wrote of The Gramblinite, “Wow! This is a college paper? Well done!” Overall the judges were also impressed with the writing and photography of the newspaper.
Gramblinite adviser Wanda L. Peters noted that this has been a good year for the newspaper.
“We have won more than 30 awards in the four contests we’ve entered, competing against schools across the South and nationwide.
“The department has been putting out quality journalists for a long time, and The Gramblinite is just contributing to that effort.”
Smith said the driving force for the staff of The Gramblinite is to be the No. 1 news source in Grambling.
Peters said the newspaper is always looking for writers, photographers and designers, as well as just people with fresh ideas. She said students do not need to be Mass Communication majors to work for The Gramblinite. She invited any student interested to attend Gramblinite meetings Mondays at 8 p.m. in 204 Washington-Johnson Complex.