Ranger staffers garner honors

The Ranger print and online editions and Ranger staff collectively won 19 awards in the 2009-10 academic year from four professional organizations.

Awards were presented for news and feature writing, editing, page design, photojournalism, videography and Web site excellence.

The Society of Professional Journalists honored the Ranger Online as Best Affiliate Web Site for a two-year college in Region 8, which includes Texas and Oklahoma.

This award is based on content from 2009. The Web site was judged on its design, content, interactivity and use of multimedia tools.

In past years, The Ranger has competed and won against four-year colleges in the annual contest for editorial excellence in this category. In 2009, the Mark of Excellence Awards were split into separate divisions for two- and four-year colleges.

Because the Ranger Online won first place in Region 8, it will be considered in the national awards competition. Those winners will be announced in May.

Another SPJ award was presented to journalism sophomore Tyler Cleveland, who won second place in sports photography for "Ragin' Rangers." The photo, published Feb. 20, 2009, captured a Ranger basketball player pushing an opponent out of his way to make a layup.

The Ranger staff won a total of eight awards from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association this year.

Melissa Toscano Lazcano, who graduated in May 2009 with degrees in journalism and radio-television-film, won first place in online best video for "Cesar Chavez march," published April 3, 2009.

Lazcano also won second in feature photo for "Now behave." The photo, published Feb. 13, 2009, depicts a police instructor training juniors at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Journalism sophomore Regis Roberts and former student Charles Cima were awarded third in online best interactivity for their work on the Ranger Online.

Journalism sophomore Trey Randolph earned first place in newspaper news story for "Blaze leaves," a story published Feb. 3, 2009, about a fire near this college.

Randolph also won an honorable mention in newspaper feature story for "Locked toilet," a story published Nov. 12, 2009, about world toilet day.

Former student Henry Chavarria was awarded an honorable mention in newspaper headline for "Como se dice ‘budget cuts,'" published Oct. 8, 2009.

James Bosquez, a 2009 journalism graduate, earned an honorable mention in newspaper op/ed page design for his work in the March 6, 2009, issue of The Ranger.

Additionally, The Ranger was awarded third place in general Web site excellence.

The Texas Community College Journalism Association presented The Ranger staff with eight awards this school year.

Liberal arts sophomore Natalie Olivares earned first place in sports action photo for a photo taken in the cyber café in Loftin Student Center and published Feb. 1, 2008.

Randolph won first place in picture/page panel for "San Antonio celebrates MLK's dream in Obama." This page, published Feb. 4, 2009, featured a picture of a man and a little girl holding a sign with President Obama's picture on it that says "dreams do come true."

Jeff Reese, 2009 journalism graduate, won third place in picture/page panel for "Rangers mauled by Tigers." Published Nov. 6, 2009, the page featured several pictures of a Ranger basketball player stealing the ball from an opponent.

Bosquez won third place in sports news for "Rangers grab title in championship tourney." The story, published March 19, 2009, reported on the Rangers winning the South Texas Club League championship on March 7, 2009.

Roberts also won an honorable mention in column writing for "Roots in Mormonism denounced." The viewpoint, published Sept. 11, 2008, discussed problems within the Mormon faith.

The association also presented The Ranger staff with awards for first place in online best overall Web site, second in overall general excellence and third in headline writing.

In addition, the Ranger Online was named one of 50 finalists in the 2010 Associated Collegiate Press Online Pacemaker contest. The Ranger is the only community college publication in its category, enrollment of more than 10,000, which had a total of 242 entries.

The judges' panel noted that the most successful sites display excellence in multimedia story telling, writing and editing, site design, in-depth and complete coverage, interactivity, and graphics and photography.

Online Pacemaker winners will be announced Oct. 30 at the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention in Louisville, Ky.