SWT wins several TIPA awards, congratulates 2 Hall of Fame inductees

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — Southwest Texas State University students and activities of the Department of Mass Communication won 27 awards at the annual Texas Intercollegiate Press Association convention earlier this month.

The SWT student newspaper, The Daily University Star, garnered 23 awards while three SWT broadcast students placed in the top five. Abby Robbin placed 2nd in TV announcing; Luke Simons placed 2nd in radio sports writing and Kamie Paxton received honorable mention for a TV feature story. SWT also gained an honorable mention for TV newscast.

The Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Hall of Fame will officially open April 27 with portraits of the first 13 inductees on display. Of those initial 13, the late Frank Buckley, former chair and professor of the SWT journalism department, and Jeff Henderson, professor of mass communication, will be inducted. Both are former executive directors of TIPA and currently have scholarships named in their honor.

The Hall of Fame, located in the Journalism Building on the campus of Texas A&M University-Commerce, was established by TIPA in 2001. The purpose of the Hall of Fame is to recognize and honor individuals who have passed through TIPA member institutions as a student journalist, student media adviser or journalism educator and have gone on to distinguish themselves in their respective fields on the local, state, national or international levels.