Your connection to collegiate news | Jan. 28, 2026

Congrats Collegiate Contest winners!

Winners from the 2025 Collegiate Contest have been posted online for proofing.
Please carefully review your news organization's winners and submit corrections no later than Feb. 2.
Winners are not for official release in your newspaper or on your website until March 27.
Secret winners will be announced at the SCPA Collegiate Meeting and Awards on March 27.
Thanks to members of the Virginia Press Association for judging our contest!

Register for Collegiate Meeting & Awards

Mark your calendars! The 2026 Collegiate Meeting & Awards will take place Friday, March 27, at SCPA Offices in Columbia.
The meeting will run from 10 a.m. through 4 p.m., and will include educational sessions, roundtables, the awards ceremony and time for networking.
The cost to attend is $20, which includes lunch, snacks and drinks.
The deadline to register is March 20.
View schedule of events and register today!

A few Collegiate Meeting planning notes:

- We need your training topic and speaker suggestions for the morning and afternoon general sessions! We're also recruiting volunteers if you or your staff would like to present a session at the Collegiate Meeting. We have spots for a 45-minute session or a few 15-minute micro-sessions. Past topics have included social media best practices, assertive journalism, backpack journalism and planning/time management. Please reach out with your ideas so we can finalize the schedule of events!

- There's limited space in the Collegiate Meeting program for congratulatory ads. Full page ads are $40 and half page ads are $20. Let your staff know how proud you are of them! Camera-ready ads will be accepted through March 13. Email Jen to reserve your space today.

- Duplicate awards are available for purchase. Duplicate certificates are $2 each. If you’d like to frame your second or third place award, a limited number of wooden plaque bases will be available at the Collegiate Meeting for $15. Please email or call SCPA to order duplicate awards.

SCPA hires USC J-School masters student to help with event prep, SCPA communications

SCPA has hired USC international graduate student Kino Ambrister as a communications and design intern for spring semester.
A Bahamian native, Kino is a first-generation Master’s student with a major in Mass Communication and a concentration in strategic communication management.
Aspiring to have a job in the marketing and public relations industry, he worked as an intern account representative at a local marketing agency and as an enrollment communications specialist at another local insurance company.

Ambrister

He obtained his Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication from Benedict College where he graduated Suma Cum Laude. “While completing my practicum experience at SCPA, I hope to build my professional persona, gain extensive writing experience and glean novel knowledge in the news industry that can benefit me eventually,” he said.
Aside from being a teaching and research assistant at USC, in his free time, Kino enjoys cooking, reading and being adventurous in the city he calls his home away from home.
Kino's email is kino@scpress.org.
Maya Ambuehl and McKenzie Bargeron will also continue to work as SCPA interns this semester.

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