On April 12, the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association presented Texas A&M Student Media with a combined 43 awards, split between The Battalion, the Aggieland Yearbook and the Maroon Life magazine.
Aggies took home the top spot in several categories in the previously published contest, and had several dozen staffers take home awards.
“It feels so good when it’s not just one publication that’s shining strong for your outlet and all of your student groups take pride in their work and are all national and state award-winning outlets,” Associate Director of Student Media Spencer O’Daniel said.
The Battalion earned the convention’s top Best of Show honors for both website and print newspaper, and the publication’s editor-in-chief, Nicholas Gutteridge, claimed first place in the Reporter of the Year category.
Additionally, The Battalion’s social media team earned an overall excellence award for its social media presence across multiple platforms.
“It’s an amazing end to a phenomenal chapter of my life,” social media editor Sophie Villarreal said. “ … I would never try to take full credit for this, because this was in the works before I got here. I was just here at the right time to help bring it to fruition.”
The Aggieland Yearbook also took home an overall excellence award, its first since 2016.
“Being in my senior year and being able to see all of the individual awards roll in as well as getting some new designers on the dock with some first and second places was really important to the program,” the yearbook’s editor-in-chief Cara Hudson said. “It gave me the fuel that I needed to finish this 2025 book.”
In the live contests — which are each limited to one student per school and take place on-site during the convention — A&M students earned four first-place honors and placed second in three.
The Battalion’s managing editor and associate news editor Ian Curtis and Tenny Luhrs took home first place in headline writing and copyediting, respectively, while Maroon Life’s Ayla Francis and Hudson each placed first in critical review and yearbook design.
A full list of award winners can be found below:
First Place
Overall Excellence/Social Media — Sophie Villarreal, Kate Chandler, Emma McMinn, Theresa Lozano
Best of Show/Newspaper — The Battalion — Nicholas Gutteridge, Ian Curtis, Kynlee Bright
Best of Show/Website — The Battalion — Nicholas Gutteridge, Ian Curtis, Kynlee Bright
Overall Excellence — 2024 Aggieland Yearbook — Emily Escobedo, Hannah Harrison, Cara Hudson, Julius Sjolie
Reporter of the Year — Nicholas Gutteridge
General News Photo — Hannah Harrison
General Column — Joshua Abraham
General News Photo — Hannah Harrison
Interactive Ad Design — Julius Sjolie
Sports News Story — Ian Curtis
Multimedia Sports — Ian Curtis, Ishika Samant
Photo Illustration — Nikhil Vadi, Pranay Dhoopar
General News — J.M. Wise
Cover Design/General Magazine — Zoe May, Laura McClintock, Hudson Elkjer
Live Contest Copyediting — Tennyson Luhrs
Live Contest Yearbook Design — Cara Hudson
Live Contest Critical Review — Ayla Francis
Live Contest Headline Writing — Ian Curtis
Second Place
Cover Design — Pranay Dhoopar, Nikhil Vadi
Photo Story — Chris Swann, Hannah Harrison
Cover Design — 2024 Aggieland Yearbook — Cara Hudson, Emily Escobedo
Overall Design — Maroon Life Fall Sports Magazine — Zoe May, Hudson Elkjer, Laura McClintock, Sydney Miles
Sports Column — Luke White
Overall Design — 2024 Aggieland Yearbook — Emily Escobedo, Cara Hudson
Illustration — Corynn Young
Feature Photo — Chris Swann
Sports Page/Spread Design — Monica Lin, Courtney Henson
Live Contest Hype Video — Sophie Villarreal
Live Contest PR Crisis Management — Sophie Villarreal
Live Contest Print Advertising — Julius Sjolie
Third Place
Multimedia Feature — Sydnei Miles, Chris Swann, Ian Curtis, Zoe May
In-Depth Reporting — Nicholas Gutteridge
Inside News Package/Spread Design — Cara Hudson, Samuel Falade, C.J. Smith
Advertising Campaign — Hamsini Mahadevan
Editor/News Director of the Year — J.M. Wise
Multimedia Slideshow — Theresa Lozano, Adriano Espinosa, Kate Chandler, Emma McMinn
Cartoon Strip/Panel — Chi-Chi Zang
Overall Design/Newspaper — Amy Steward, Nikhil Vadi, Kynlee Bright, Pranay Dhoopar
Honorable Mention
Illustration — Zoe Rich
Sports Page/Spread Design — Cara Hudson, Kyle Heise
Sports Feature Photo — Chris Swann
Interactive Graphic — Amy Steward
Sports Page/Spread Design — Nikhil Vadi, Zoe May, Ani Tummalapalli, C.J. Smith
