TommieMedia received 11 awards in the 2018-2019 College Better Newspaper Contest in late January, including five first place finishes.

Director Emily Haugen attended the 2020 Minnesota Newspaper Association Annual Convention and Trade Show in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. At this event, members of the MNA engaged in professional development, training sessions, networking opportunities and honored Better Newspaper Contest award winners.

First place winners include: St. Thomas community expresses outrage, anger during sit-in by Samantha HoangLong, Noah Brown, and Emily Sweeney (Local Breaking News Coverage), Blue Light Exposed by Christine Hastings (Use of Information Graphics & Graphic Illustrations), Football falls to St. John’s, loses first conference match since ‘14 by Matthew Curry and Noah Brown (Sports Story), Men’s track and field competes at Tomcat Twilight by Drew Bouman (Sports Photo), and St. Thomas community expresses outrage, anger during sit-in by Emily Sweeney (Photo Story).

Samantha HoangLong also earned second place in Local Breaking News Coverage for Tensions rise at St. Thomas community discussion after sit-in.

Third place winners include: Pages from history show St. Thomas’ legacy of racism by Solveig Rennan (Investigative Reporting), TommieMedia (Website), Football falls to St. John’s, loses first conference match since ‘14 by Matthew Curry and Noah Brown (Best Use of Multimedia), Rep. Walz elected governor by Isa Tine (News Photo), and Photo Slideshow: AJR concert by Isa Tine (Feature Photo Story).

TommieMedia is an award-winning, web-based organization aiming to deliver campus, local and world news to the community. Its mission is to produce high-quality, timely, multi-platform pieces for the University of St. Thomas and the broader community. All of its employees are students from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Alexis Okafor can be reached at okaf1618@stthomas.edu.