CCU’s student newspaper staff brings home gold, silver, bronze, and a scholarship in statewide competition
CCU awards:
• The Chanticleer won third place in the General Excellence category.
• Madison Sharrock won the Mundy Scholarship.
• Sarah Jackson won first place in Advertisement for a Student Health Services ad.
• Megan Wallace and Madison Sharrock won second place in News Story for “Housing Hiccups as Enrollment Increases.”
• Jacob Bashura, Sarah Jackson, and Tiera Rivers won second place in Page One Design for a homecoming special issue titled “Ride the Wave.”
• Jacob Hensley won second place in Video for a news video about a student protest.
• Tiera Rivers won third place in Specialty Page Design for a graphic about CCU’s arboretum.
While The Chanticleer has won individual awards in the past, this year’s event marks the first time a CCU student has won the Mundy Scholarship and the first time on record The Chanticleer has won a general excellence award. The scholarship, awarded annually to a student interested in pursuing a newspaper career, was named after the late Frank R. Mundy, who was the first president of the SCPA Foundation.
Wendy Weinhold, associate professor in the Department of Communication, Media, and Culture, became faculty advisor for The Chanticleer in Spring 2021, when the newspaper resumed publication after the COVID pandemic. Weinhold noted that the awards reflect newspapers published between December 2021 and 2022, under three different Chanticleer editors-in-chief, and that CCU bested much larger universities with long histories of established newspapers and journalism programs, including the University of South Carolina, Clemson University, and College of Charleston, in several of the categories.
“These students have shown a tremendous amount of resilience and responsibility,” said Weinhold. “Doing the work of being a campus newspaper reporter, particularly at Coastal, which doesn’t have a journalism degree [a major is being established in Fall 2023], the resources, or the history that many of our competitors have, is an extraordinary challenge.”
Sharrock began working at The Chanticleer in Spring 2022 and became assistant editor for the 2022-23 academic year. She works 20 hours a week editing, mentoring reporters, planning issues with the executive staff, and meeting the delivery truck that has driven from Charleston when it arrives on campus around midnight with copies of The Chanticleer each week. Sharrock was shocked and delighted to learn that she had been named the SCPA 2023 Mundy Scholar.
“It’s an honor not only to represent the University, but also to represent myself, where I come from, and the hard work I’ve put into academia since middle school,” said Sharrock.
In addition to the students who won awards, two other students attended the SCPA awards event: Shelby Ankiewicz ’22, who was editor-in-chief from August 2021 through February 2022, and senior Joshua Carroll, current editor-in-chief. Carroll joined The Chanticleer as a reporter in October 2021, moved to the role of culture desk editor, and then stepped into the editor-in-chief role in January 2023. He hopes CCU’s SCPA awards will encourage more students to contribute their talents to The Chanticleer.
“I first went to a Chanticleer meeting when I was a freshman, but I got cold feet, and I vanished,” said Carroll. “I hope other students will feel confident that they don’t have to be stars to work on The Chanticleer but that can just use the talents they have. I think about, say, Jacob [Hensley]’s award for a video that he shot with just a simple camera; it wasn’t anything fancy or expensive. It’s about working with what you’ve got. I hope we’re setting an example for peers who might think, ‘Those students were able to achieve something. I might be able to as well.’”
Weinhold is happy that her work and the work of the students has yielded rewards across the spectrum of journalism.
“I am really most proud that they have shown comprehensive work across all the elements for which the newspaper can serve as a learning laboratory,” said Weinhold. “The awards we won in the past were exclusively for reporting, and it’s been my priority as faculty advisor to not just think about reporting and newspaper as something that we do in news writing, but as something that we do across all spectrums of the newspaper. I’m really proud of the students for the awards they’ve won that showcase their hard work.”
Sharrock noted that Weinhold’s consistent support has been essential for her and The Chanticleer. Weinhold initially brought Sharrock’s attention to the Mundy scholarship and wrote a reference letter for her application.
“[Dr. Weinhold] has pushed me beyond what I expect and set for myself,” said Sharrock. “She’s a reason I stayed with The Chanticleer and have developed this passion for journalism. She always tries to point me in the right direction, and she’s probably one of the biggest supporters I have at Coastal. She always says, ‘We’re only as good of a journalist as we are tomorrow.’ I think we’re lucky to have her.”
The Chanticleer is available in print and digital versions. Visit chanticleernews.com to read the digital newspaper.