The Scene wins Best in State

The Scene made quite a scene at the recent Missouri College Media Association annual conference. 

The student newspaper for St. Louis Community College-Forest Park won the Best in State award during the event in early April. It beat out newspapers from colleges and universities of all sizes. 

“When they first called out (the winner), I was shocked,” said Carrington Davis, who became The Scene’s editor this spring. “It was surreal. It was really exciting.”

Schools are broken down into four divisions depending on size with two-year schools falling into Division 4. In the Best Overall Newspaper category, publications submit three full issues – one from January through June, one from June through December and one from any date during the 2024 calendar. The winners of each of the four divisions have the same three issues go to a different set of judges who pick Best in State.

The Scene also took second place in Division 4 in the Sweepstakes category, in which points are given for each award the newspaper receives. The paper with the most points wins the Sweepstakes category. Overall, The Scene journalists earned 29 individual awards for work that appeared in print and online during the 2024 calendar year.

“The best thing about our staff is its grit,” Davis said. “We push through, and whether we have 10 people or three people, we still get the paper out, which I think is really admirable.”

The Montage, the student paper at STLCC-Meramec, won a total of 33 awards. It took first in the Sweepstakes category in Division 4 and second for Best Overall in the division. 

Jacob Politte took home 15 awards, either individually or as part of a team of journalists. He won first in News Writing, In-Depth Reporting, Investigative Reporting, Information Graphic, Story Illustration, Page One Design, Sports Section and Feature Page.  

The Forum (STLCC-Florissant Valley) did not enter the contest and STLCC-Wildwood does not have a student newspaper. 

Jimmy Mowery with The Scene scored two shutouts. He won first, second and third place in the Nonpolitical/Entertainment Cartoon category and Story Illustration category.

A bittersweet part of The Scene’s contest showing was that it won three awards (news writing, photo page and website) with the help of the late Mason Dare, the staff’s former business manager, who died in January at age 23.

List of Awards

The Montage

• Sweepstakes (first); Best Overall (second); Special Section/Supplement (first); Website (first)
• News Writing: Jacob Politte (first)
• Editorial Writing: Lillian Thum (honorable mention)
• Feature Writing: Nina Gomez (first); Politte (third); Gomez (honorable mention)
• Sports Writing: Heather Kenyon (first); Ryan Winzen (second); Politte (third)
• In-Depth Reporting: Politte (first); Politte, Ryan Winzen, Jack Jursnich (honorable mention)
• Investigative Reporting: Politte (first, third)
• Column: Politte (honorable mention)
• Entertainment Review: Politte (honorable mention)
• Feature Photo: Gomez (third)
• Sports Photo: Lucas Segall (first)
• Information Graphic: Politte (first); Winzen (second) 
• Story Illustration: Politte (first)
• Page One Design: Politte (first, second) 
• Editorial Section: Thum, Jursnich (first); Hiba Obeed, Ian Schrauth, Beatrice Johnson, Jursnich (second)
• Sports Section: Politte, Lucas Segall, Emily Weber (first); Kenyon, Politte, Weber (second)
• Photo Page: Hiba Obeed (first); Politte, Segall, Weber (second) 
• Feature Page: Politte (first); Winzen, Segall, Beatrice Johnson (third)

The Scene

• Best in State (first – staff); Best Overall Newspaper (first – staff); Sweepstakes (second – staff) 
• News Writing: Precious Kenney (second); Rowan Behm, Coffee Clark and Mason Dare (third); Behm (honorable mention) 
• Feature Writing: Kenney (second)
• In-Depth Reporting: Behm (second place); Kenney (third)
• Investigative Reporting: Behm (second) 
• Feature Photography: Alexander Hernandez (first); Behm (second)
• Column: Clark (first, second); Sky Tucker (third)
• Entertainment Review: Markell Tompkins (first and third)
• Political/Editorial Cartoon: Jimmy Mowery (first)
• Nonpolitical/Entertainment Cartoon: Mowery (first, second, third place)
• Story Illustration: Mowery (first, second, third)
• Photo Page: Tucker and Behm (third); Behm and Hernandez (honorable mention); Behm and Mason Dare (honorable mention)
• Feature Page: Behm and Elias Potts (second place); and Carrington Davis (honorable mention)
• Website: Dare and Jayda Griffin (second place)
• Video: Rowan Behm, first place.