Delta State journalism students Laura Orsborn (left to right), Elisabetta Zengaro, Conor Bell (back row), Tiago Doneux, Aallyah Wright and La Tia Penn display a record number of Mississippi Press Association awards for news, editorials, features, photography, graphic design and general excellence. The awards were presented at the annual Better Newspaper Contest in Jackson on March 26. Associate professor Patricia Roberts, Delta Statement advisor, is fourth from left. Editors of The Delta Statement, Delta State University’s student-led newspaper, won three first place awards, second place in general excellence, and a dozen more awards for news, editorials, features, photography and graphic design in the 2014-15 Mississippi Press Association competition for print newspapers at four-year universities.
The awards were presented at the annual O.C. McDavid Journalism Conference in Jackson on March 26. The Delta State wins were against competition from campus newspapers produced at much larger universities, including Mississippi State, the University of Southern Mississippi and Jackson State.
Elisabetta Zengaro, Delta Statement editor-in-chief, won first place for her editorials on the importance of journalism, as well as second place for sports feature, feature photo, investigative news and graphics. Zengaro also won third place in sports photo and sports news story.
Conor Bell, news editor, won both first and second place for his reporting of Delta State budget cuts in the general news story category. Bell also won third place in the general interest column category.
Tiago Doneux, layout editor, won first place in the front page competition.
Other winners were Florian Mondoloni, second place for sports column; Laura Orsborn, third place for feature story; La Tia Penn, third place for spot news photo; and Valentin Ivanov, third place for miscellaneous advertisement.
All of the award winners are present and past journalism majors or minors. Mondoloni is now a Delta State graduate student, while Ivanov, a native of Russia, has returned to his home country.
“This is a remarkable number of wins for our small journalism program in a professionally judged statewide competition,” said associate professor Patricia Roberts, who serves as advisor to The Delta Statement. “These state award winners are journalism majors and minors who will be among last to benefit from the B.A. in journalism that has been offered at Delta State for more than a decade.”
