Flare wins 18th Sweepstakes at TIPA competition

The Flare, Kilgore College's weekly student newspaper, won its 18th sweepstakes in 22 years in the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association competition in College Station last weekend.

The Flare won Division III Sweepstakes, competing against 11 four-year institutions and one community college. Division III encompasses schools publishing a newspaper one to three times per week with enrollment in the lower half of entries.

The Flare won 25 awards, including First Place in Overall Excellence and 11 individual first places. Flare staffers also placed in five live contests in open competition with students from universities and community colleges across Texas.

Live contest winners include Anna Katzkova, first in copy editing; Kyle Shipp, second in sports writing and second in headline writing; Sara Knight, third in yearbook page design; and J.C. Derrick, third in radio sports writing.

Previously published contest materials were submitted for calendar year 2007 when Sarah Fields-Thomas served as executive editor in the spring and Melissa Greene and Sara Knight were co-executive editors in the fall.

Judge'scomments said, 'Revenue Blues' was the best content I saw in any of these papers. It's the kind of enterprise that other college newspapers should be doing. But the good content didn't end there. There's good content throughout each edition. The paper is well written and well organized."

The Flare staff earned 122 points to win sweepstakes and first place in the following categories: headline, sports action photo, ad design, opinion page design, in-depth reporting, critical review, news story, illustration (non-photo), information graphic, feature page design, sports page design and overall excellence.

Midwestern State University came in second with 89 points, followed by Texas A&M University Commerce with 62 points, A&M University- Kingsville with 54 points and Lamar University with 34 points. The Flare also won Sweepstakes in the Texas Community College Journalism Association Sweepstakes in the fall for the 17th time.

Bettye Craddock is the adviser for The Flare and the co-adviser for The Ranger. O. Rufus Lovett is photography adviser for The Flare and co-adviser for the Ranger.

Flare newspaper awards:

Jacob Adkisson - 2nd in News Photo, 3rd in Picture Story, 3rd in Special Edition/Section and 3rd in Single Subject Presentation

Sara Baxter - 3rd in Pictures Story and 3rd in Special Edition/ Section

Nathan Cain - 1st in Ad Design

Craig Cooper - Honorable Mention in Ad Design

Emily Drew - 3rd in Picture Story and 3rd in Special Edition/ Section

Sarah Fields-Thomas - 1st in Headline, 1st in Opinion Page Design, 1st in Feature Page Design, 2nd in Editorial, 3rd in Special Edition/Section, 3rd in In-Depth Reporting and 3rd In Single Subject Presentation

Maigan Ford - 3rd in Special Edition/Section Clint Fultner - 1st in Information Graphic

Melissa Greene - 1st in Ad Design, 1st in In-Depth Reporting, 1st in Critical Review, 1st in News Story, Honorable Mention in Ad Design, 2nd in Feature Story, 2nd in News Feature Story and 3rd in Single Subject Presentation

Anthony Harris - 3rd in Pictures Story and 3rd in Special Edition/Section

Hayden Henry - 1st in Opinion Page Design and 1st in In- Depth Reporting

Sara Knight - 1st in Opinion Page Design, 2nd in News Features Story, Honorable Mention in General Column, 1st in In- Depth Reporting, 2nd in Page One Design and 3rd in Special Edition/Section

Saylor Knox - 1st in Illustration (non-photo) and 2nd in Editorial Cartoon

Drew Nelson - 1st in Sports Action Photo

Kyle Shipp - 1st in Sports Page Design and 2nd in Sports News

Michelle Swain - 3rd in Picture Story and 3rd in Special Edition/Section

Lauren Yglecias - 1st in News Story

Ranger yearbook awards:

Jacob Adkisson - 2nd in Sports Action Photo, 3rd in Sports Feature Photo, Honorable Mention in Photo Story, Honorable Mention in Photo Essay, Honorable Mention in Sports Action Photo

Kyle McPeek - Honorable Mention in Photo Story

Former Flare staffers won the following:

Ryan Perry - Co-executive editor Fall 2006 and now a graduating senior at Stephen F. Austin State University: 1st place in live yearbook page design

Jeremy Cotham - Sports editor 2005-2006 and now a senior at the University of Texas at Tyler: 1st in Sports Page Design; 1st in Sports News; 1st in Sports Feature; and Honorable Mention in Special Edition/Section