As the 2024-25 academic year comes to an end, the Arkansas College Media Association held their annual conference and award ceremony themed Flow into Media: Connect. Create. Celebrate., at the Northwest Arkansas Community College on April 14.
The conference, known for celebrating and recognizing student media content across the state, hosted break-out sessions of interest for students eager to explore any field related to mediums of mass communication, led by experienced and expert guest speakers, as well as an award luncheon.
Maintaining its presence in Arkansas student media, The Threefold Advocate earned multiple honors at this year’s ACMA. Seven students from the staff enjoyed the opportunity to be among and hear from journalists and media producers from the Society of Professional Journalists from Arkansas.
Sessions ranged from practical advice like “Land that Job,” to creative discussions such as “How to Bring Photos to Life,” offering a wide range of topics for students to explore during their morning at NWACC.
“The ACMA awards were a cool opportunity to connect with other college students aspiring towards careers in journalism, while also learning from professionals. Overall, it was a great event to attend,” Aidan Blanton, sports editor from John Brown University’s newspaper, said.
Blanton, in his first year writing for The Threefold Advocate, earned both first and third place in the Online Sports Writing section.
Additionally, news editor Celeste Masís received an honorable mention in the Online Election/Political category.
For a second consecutive win in Social Media Promotion, students Alexandra Castillo and Sofia Santana secured honorable mention and third place awards for their work on the newspaper’s social media. Castillo also received third place for her talent in the Online Art/Illustration category.
In the General Excellence category, The Threefold Advocate website received an Honorable mention. The site, recently taken down and in the process of being transferred to a new domain, was largely overseen by managing editor, Ari Yam. He worked on the interface design of the new website for the last couple of months, so this award was especially significant to him.
“Having been involved in the website design myself, this recognition is especially meaningful- especially considering that, even though the site wasn’t fully adapted into a complete web version, the work we did was strong enough to stand out and earn this honor,” Yam said.
Yam also expressed pride in the newspaper staff, as this was his final year participating in ACMA before graduating.
“Every year, The Threefold Advocate returns to JBU with ACMA awards in various categories- a reflection of the team’s hard work and dedication. In what was my last time participating in this competition, I feel proud to see what we earned, we will continue pushing boundaries for the Threefold to thrive,” Yam said.
