The Missouri College Media Association held their yearly awards ceremony to recognize student journalists on Saturday, April 12. Ten staff members of The University News were in attendance.

The UNews won a total of six awards including,

 Entertainment Review, First Place, Managing Editor Adam Tamburin

 Entertainment Review, Second Place, Matt Wilhelm

 Sports Photo, Honorable Mention, Photography Editor Steve Root

 Feature Photo, Third Place, Keith Mokris

 Page One Design, Third Place, Editor-in-Chief Katie Lewis

 Regular Column, Honorable Mention, Op/Ed Editor Sarah Hale

“I’m excited for those from The UNews staff who came away with awards, not only because of a certificate, but because others in the state could see the excellence in journalism that is done at SLU,” said Jason Young, adviser to The UNews.

Hale was also elected president of the MCMA for next year. According to Young, the newly elected president of the MCMA generally chooses to hold the next year’s conference at his or her university, and Hale said that she has decided SLU will be the destination for most, if not all, of the activities in the conference next April.

“What I plan for the presidency is increased communication between the papers, to try and get everyone together right off the bat and to develop a relationship between papers from all over the state,” Hale said.

Young said that he believed the conference will be beneficial in showing that SLU is capable of excellent journalism.

“[The conference] will give staff at The UNews an opportunity not just to demonstrate its leadership amongst student journalists in the state of Missouri,” Young said. “But also to showcase the commitment that SLU has shown toward student media.” Young said.

Hale agreed.

“It should be a well organized conference with lots of notable people and an event that SLU and The UNews can be proud of. It’s going to be a good opportunity for the paper itself to actually solidify,” she said. “Not just to build the relationship between The UNews and other papers, but to strengthen the relationship between The UNews and SLU.”

Hale believes the conference will allow The UNews to better represent itself at SLU as a serious publication.

“We are very serious and we want to show [everyone] that we can put on a quality production.”

The MCMA awards are given based on school size, making SLU a division one school, said Lewis. She praised the newspaper’s results in the conference.

“We should be proud that we won, considering we were up against a school like Mizzou, which has an extensive journalism program.”