March 10, 2007 — The University of the Virgin Islands' student newspaper won two major awards at the 9th annual National HBCU Newspaper Conference, held Feb. 15-17 in Tallahassee, Fla.
Florida A&M University hosted the conference for student newspapers at historically black colleges and universities across the United States. UVI VOICE took second-place honors for Best News Series, Investigation or In-Depth Story for a series of articles on problems with dormitory security on the St. Thomas campus, according to a UVI news release. The award went to writers Mikyla Frederick, Jahnesta Ritter and Amanda Langton.
Langton also won a second-place award for Best Editorials for a series of opinion pieces she wrote highlighting her experiences at UVI. Langton came to UVI from New Hampshire as part of the National Student Exchange during the fall semester of 2006.
"What makes these awards so remarkable is that our small paper was in direct competition with every member school, meaning our students placed well against schools with hundreds of journalism students and daily newspapers," said Robin Sterns, faculty adviser to the student newspaper and coordinator of UVI's communication program.
Sterns attended the conference along with four student newspaper leaders: Aslin Leger, St. Thomas campus managing editor; Miriam Welderufael, St. Croix campus managing editor; Wendy Bougouneau, copy editor; and Erika Barnes, a reporter on St. Croix.
In addition to the awards banquet, the conference’s culminating event, Sterns and the students attended two days of informative sessions led by journalism professionals. They included Pulitzer Prize winner Lucy Morgan, senior correspondent for the St. Petersburg Times; Caesar Andrews, executive editor of the Detroit Free Press; and Keith M. Woods, dean of faculty at the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists in St. Petersburg, Fla.
"Our students had a unique opportunity to meet professionals and students from other HBCUs and see there’s a huge network of support for their goals and dreams," Sterns said. "We came back energized, with new ideas for stories, plans for a web version of the paper, insights into new technology and internship opportunities for these students to pursue in the future."
The annual conference is sponsored by the Black College Communication Association, which includes UVI as a member.
The trip was made possible through support from UVI President LaVerne Ragster; Monique Guillory, St. Croix Campus executive administrator; and Malik Sekou, chair of the humanities and social sciences division.
