The Texas Intercollegiate Press Association announced its 2019 award winners on Monday.
TIPA, who had a statewide conference scheduled for March 23-25 in Corpus Christi, canceled the event in early March due to coronavirus concerns. The Battalion was awarded 26 awards from TIPA this week, including second place overall excellence newspaper.
Luke Henkhaus, Class of 2020, spring 2019 managing editor and fall 2019 editor-in-chief, said it’s a joy to be among the publications honored by TIPA, who each do a great job of serving their respective campuses.
“We don’t do this for awards, of course, but it is always nice to see the hard work of Battalion staffers recognized by the statewide college journalism community,” Henkhaus said.
Photo chief Meredith Seaver, an environmental studies senior, won six awards, the most individual awards earned by a Battalion staff member. When she saw the list of award winners, Seaver said she began crying because her position is so important to her.
“It doesn’t tell me that I’m doing my job well, but I feel like it’s reassuring that I’m making steps in the right direction,” Seaver said. “I’m kind of doing something right.”
The Battalion received six first place awards, six second place awards, six third place awards and eight honorable mention awards. Fifteen of the 26 awards were earned by the visual staff of either photographers, videographers or designers.
Abigail Ochoa, Class of 2019 and summer 2019 editor-in-chief, said  she was shocked when she saw how well The Battalion’s staff was awarded for their work.
“It’s a great honor to get these awards and this affirmation especially with people that I loved working with,”Ochoa said. “Overall, it’s really cool that our hard work and everything we put into the paper has been recognized by TIPA in such a huge way.”
The Battalion extends congratulations to all of its staff members for their hard work in 2019 and their continued effort in 2020.
Below is a list of The Battalion’s 2019 TIPA awards:

List of Awards TIPA 2019

Overall Excellence – Newspaper
Second Place, The Battalion Staff
Narrative Reporting
Breaking News (BN), Third Place, Samantha Mahler & Khadeeja Umana
Critical Review, Honorable Mention, Keagan Miller
Feature Story, Honorable Mention, Alex Miller
Sports Story, First Place, Hannah Underwood
Electronic Reporting
In-Depth Multimedia Story, Honorable Mention, Robert Castro, Luke Henkhaus, Samantha Mahler & Brady Stone
Visual Reporting
Breaking News Photo, Third Place, Meredith Seaver
Environmental Portrait, First Place, Cassie Stricker
Environmental Portrait, Second Place, Meredith Seaver
Interactive Graphic, First Place, Angel Franco & Abigail Ochoa
Photo Story, Second Place, Meredith Seaver
Sports Action Photo, Second Place, Meredith Seaver 
Sports Action Photo, Third Place, Cassie Stricker
Sports Feature Photo, First Place, Meredith Seaver
Sports Feature Photo, Second Place, Meredith Seaver
Production
Best Use of Social Media – Breaking News, Third Place, Luke Henkhaus & Sanna Bhai
Overall Design – Web, Honorable Mention, Megan Rodriguez, Luke Henkhaus & Abigail Ochoa
Special Edition Design – Online, First Place, Megan Rodriguez, Luke Henkhaus & Brittny Efendy
Special Edition Design – Online, Third Place, Battalion Staff
Special Edition Design – Online, Honorable Mention, Battalion Staff
Special Edition Design – Print, Third Place, Cassie Stricker & Brady Stone
Special Edition Design – Print, Honorable Mention, Brady Stone
Feature Page/Spread Design – Newspaper, Honorable Mention, Cassie Stricker
Sports Page/Spread Design – Newspaper, First Place, Brady Stone
Use of Data, Second Place, Kathryn Whitlock & Nic Tan
Use of Data, Honorable Mention, Luis Sanchez & Nic Tan