MTSU students rock AP’s Tennessee awards

Sidelines staff (left to right) Jamie Cooley, Sarah Grace Taylor, John Connor Coulston and Dylan Aycock with their awards at the 2016 Tennessee Associated Press Broadcast and Media Editors Contest.

MTSU and College of Media and Entertainment students received 37 awards and two honorable mentions at the 2016 Tennessee AP Broadcast and Media Editors College Contest on Saturday, April 9. Held at the John Seigenthaler First Amendment Center in Nashville, the contest recognizes the best work in college journalism in the state of Tennessee.

Sidelines, the college’s student-run newspaper, won “Best College Website” despite stiff competition from Belmont, Vanderbilt and Lipscomb universities. Student reporter Erin Thomas walked away with two awards, one for “Best Radio Newscast” for her “Evening Drive” program and the other for “Best Use of Sound” for a Jazz Workshop for WMOT, the college’s NPR-affiliated radio station. Jackson Jones won “Best Television Reporter” for his work “Growing Fears” on the student-run television station MT10.

Tennessee AP College First Place winners for MTSU are:

• Student journalist Erin Thomas brings home two first place wins for “Best Use of Sound” and “Best Radio Newscast” for her work at WMOT radio.

  Best College Media Website: “Sidelines”

• Best Online Multimedia Journalist: “Hannah Huskey - It’s On Us”
• Best Online Ongoing Coverage: “Forrest Hall Coverage,” Sarah Taylor
• Best Online Specialized/Topic Reporting: “Marcus Mumford: Bonnaroo ‘Very Special Place to Us,’ ” John Coulston
• Best Online Sports Reporting: “Cheyenne Parker: Recovering from a Game-Changing Mistake,” Connor Grott
• Best Radio News Story: “Tennessee Confronts Human Trafficking,” Alandria Barker
• Best Radio Newscast: “Erin Thomas WMOT Evening Drive,”
• Best Radio Specialized/Topic Reporting: “International Students Adapt to Mid-State Universities,” Alandria Barker
• Best Use of Sound: “Jazz Workshop Alive and Well in the Country Music Capital,” Erin Thomas
• Best Television Reporter: “Jackson Jones - Growing Fears”
• Best TV Sports Coverage/Program: “Brooke Grimsley - Marcus Mariota Training Camp Interception”

For a list of all the 2016 Tennessee AP Broadcast and Media Editors College Contest winners, please click here.