By Patrick Sochacki
UNIVERSITY CENTER – The Delta Collegiate staff recently won 13 awards from the Michigan Community College Press Association (MCCPA) for work produced during the 2019-2020 school year.
The MCCPA awards are an annual, open-class ceremony, hosted by Central Michigan University. An open-class ceremony judges every contender on the same level, besides general excellence which is judged in two divisions.
Other than Delta College, eight community colleges participated in the awards:
- Washtenaw Community College
- Schoolcraft College
- Northwestern Michigan College
- Grand Rapids Community College
- Lansing Community College
- Monroe County Community College
- Muskegon Community College
- Henry Ford College
Placing for the first time in three years, the Delta Collegiate took second place for general excellence, Division 1.
Crystal Gwizdala, managing editor for the Delta Collegiate, won five of the 13 awards: first place for news photo, feature photo, infographic and personality profile. Gwizdala also won second place for Student Journalist of the Year.
Gwizdala’s first place news photo was featured in the story “Planned Parenthood clinics under fire,” published Oct. 25, 2019.
Gwizdala earned two first place awards for her story, “There’s more to drag than sparkly eyeshadow and high-heels,” published Feb. 9, 2020. This photo won in the feature photo category, and the story won in the personality profile category.
This infographic was designed by Gwizdala for a story titled “This flu season may be the deadliest yet,” published Jan. 22, 2020, earning first place in the informational graphic category.
Michael Pieper, creative director for the Collegiate, won four of the 13 awards: first place for video production, second place for news photo and feature photo and third place for sports news photo.
Pieper’s winning video is an episode of the Delta Beat, a newscast web series Pieper started while working for the Collegiate. The Delta Beat also placed third in best newscast this year at the College Media Association Apple Awards ceremony. You can see the winning episode here.
Several other staff members received awards, including Rebecca Roberts with third place for sports feature photo, Lindsay Lang with third place for original cartoon, and Michael Piwowarski with an honorable mention for headline writing.
To see all of the winners from across the state and to view the comment cards and submissions for any of our winners, visit the MCCPA 2020 contest website.
