UT Tyler Students Earn More Than 50 Awards at State Convention
April 13, 2026 | Hannah Buchanan
The University of Texas at Tyler students earned 53 awards at this year’s Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Convention. As the largest organization of collegiate mass communication programs in Texas, TIPA annually recognizes excellence in writing, editing, photography, videography, advertising, marketing, publication design and social media content.
“UT Tyler has some of the best student journalists in the state,” said Danny Mogle, UT Tyler lecturer and student media adviser. “I am glad these students are getting the recognition they deserve.”
Among awards for previously published content, Talon Student Media staff placed second overall in social media promotion, website design and social media–overall excellence as well as third overall in video news excellence and in-house marketing.
“I am beyond proud of the Talon Student Media staff and everything we’ve accomplished,” said UT Tyler student and TSM editor-in-chief Karleigh Yancy of Lindale. “The awards are great, but the real value is in the work student journalists do every day – volunteering countless hours to the pursuit of truth, integrity and accountability.”
UT Tyler students earning TIPA awards for on-site competitions listed by hometown are:
HALLSVILLE – P.J. Carrington of Hallsville and Karleigh Yancy of Lindale, second place in two-person photo essay.
LINDALE – Yancy, honorable mention for radio announcing.
ROWLETT – Chase Upton, second place in sports game coverage.
TROUP – Lance Clements, first place in radio advertising.
TYLER – Aaliyah Flores, second place in newspaper advertising.
UT Tyler winners for work published or broadcast in 2025 are also listed by hometown.
AUSTIN – Evan Fernandez, third place in web-commentary – critical review.
BULLARD – Emily Clark, second place in web-commentary – sports column; and Anna “Leigh” Meyers, first place in web-feature – audio story.
KATY – Chidebelum “Debi” Okeke, first place in web-news – breaking story.
LINDALE – Brandson “Jude” Radcliff, first place in web-news – audio story, second place in web-news – audio story and web-news – in-depth video; and third place in web-news – podcast and web-news – program production video; Norah DeLeon, second place in web-news – program production video and honorable mention for web-news – in-depth video; and Yancy, third place in web-feature – multimedia and web-news – special online package; and honorable mention for web-photography – breaking news.
NEW LONDON – Paulina Mata of New London and Karleigh Yancy of Lindale, second place in social media-news – breaking news; and third place in web-news – breaking news and web-news – special online package.
ROWLETT – Upton, first place in web-sports – game coverage; second place in web-commentary – podcast, third place in web-sports – sports news story and honorable mention for social media – promo, news-sports – multimedia story, social media-news/sports – general coverage and web-sports – sportscast video.
TYLER – Orion Baker, third place in web-feature – audio story; and Baker and Chidebelum “Debi” Okeke of Katy, second place in web-news – special online package; Larry Bonilla, first place in web-commentary – general column and second place in web-illustration – photo; Mateus Ferreria, second place in web-news – in-depth reporting and third place in web-commentary – general column; Santiago Nunez, first place in web-illustration – photo; Nunez and Ferreria, third place in social media-news – breaking news; Macy Maxwell, honorable mention for web-photography – sports feature; Dylan Shacklett, first place in magazine-design – special edition-health careers magazine, second place in magazine-design – interactive advertisement, third place in magazine-design – interactive advertisement and honorable mention for magazine-design – cover, general magazine and magazine-design – overall design; and Amelia Matecek and Shacklett, third place in magazine-design – special edition.
WHITEHOUSE – Jim Rasberry, honorable mention for web-feature – multimedia.
MISSOURI – Kailey Manes, second place in web-sports – audio story.
GERMANY – Juliane Frueh, first place in web-sports – multimedia story.
TIPA members represent more than 40 college student publications, television broadcasts and radio stations. For more information, visit: texasipa.org/.
With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 11,500 students. Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.