The Cardinal & Cream was honored again this year in the Excellence in Journalism competition with other colleges and universities at the Baptist Press Collegiate Journalism Conference, Oct. 9-11. The newspaper and staff garnered 15 awards in the competition, as the caliber of entries continued to improve.

The top winner was senior Katherine Kipp, journalism major and C&C co-managing editor, who was awarded the President's Award, the highest honor of the journalism competition. In addition to a plaque, the award included a $1,000 scholarship. "We are proud of Katherine and her accomplishments with the C&C and in her internship last semester in Baptist Press' Washington bureau as part of the Washington Journalism Center," said Dr. Michael Chute, professor of communication arts.

Overall, the Cardinal & Cream took 3rd place in the top division of the Newspaper category, behind Liberty University and Baylor University. In addition, the C&C Online entry also took 3rd place overall, and earned 2nd place overall in the Broadcast category for the multimedia presentation on Kevin Furniss during the tornado coverage.

The staff won a number of awards in photojournalism, as well as awards in feature writing and infographic/illustration categories. Awards went to:

Emily Rawls, 1st place, Cartoon/Art/Infographic

Kyle Kurlick, 1st place, Portrait/Personality (B&W)

Matt Elia, 1st place, Feature photo (Color)

Kristi McMurray, 2nd place, Feature photo (B&W)

Kyle Kurlick, 2nd place, News photo (B&W)

Kyle Kurlick, 2nd place, Individual Sports Action (Color)

Kyle Kurlick, 2nd place, Portrait/Personality (Color)

Matt Elia, 3rd place, Feature Story

Matthew Diggs, 3rd place, Feature Picture Story (Color)

"As we tell students, we don't produce the Cardinal & Cream to win awards," said Chute, "but it is gratifying when judges bestow awards on our students for their outstanding work."

In addition, Jim Veneman, assistant professor of communication arts, was one of the keynote speakers for the conference, and both Veneman and Chute led workshops and conducted media critiques during the sessions.