Students and employees are honored for participating in newspaper stories this semester.
By Estefania Flores
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
The journalism program will be hosting the Source Awards ceremony at 10 a.m. Friday in The Ranger newsroom.
The ceremony honors sources who have been interviewed for the Ranger, including students, faculty and staff.
The Ranger began the event in 2006.
“We have received at least 50 nominations this year,” said journalism full-time adjunct Teresa Talerico.
Out of 50 nominees, 13 will receive awards.
This year, students in Comm 2330, Intro to Public Relations are promoting the Source Awards by hanging “wanted” posters around campus including the nominee’s name and what they are nominated for.
The public relations students came up with a logo for each category, all coinciding with the name of the award.
The Piñata, for example, awards an individual who has taken a lot of hits from The Ranger, but still manages to speak with reporters and provide information. The Piñata award includes an illustration of a cartoon piñata.
Another award is The Mother Hen, for a source who takes a reporter under their wing. The award includes an illustration of a mother hen and her chick, both with press hats.
Patience is a Virtue honors a source who is exceedingly patient with The Ranger staff. The illustration features an emoji with a gentle smile.
“This is something new that we are doing to promote the Source Awards and increase readership of The Ranger,” Talerico said.
The Ranger also is surprising nominees in their classrooms and offices with a summons handed out by The Roaming Ranger, a student dressed in Western garb.
“It’s a way of honoring our sources and thanking them for their help throughout the semester,” she said. “We hope that it gets people excited about the Source Awards and also learning more about The Ranger.”
The Friday event will also announce the new editors for spring 2017.
The Ranger received 13 applications for editor positions.
To be an editor, students have to be taking a journalism class and must be interviewed by the Student Publications Board.
The board consists of journalism and photography faculty and staff, at least one alumnus of the program and faculty from other departments. Presidents of the Student Government Association have also been invited in previous years.
“It’s a pretty intense interview process,” Talerico said.
As Ranger editor, journalism sophomore Wally Perez will sit on the board this semester.
“Being on the board is pretty interesting,” Perez said. “I try to make students as comfortable as I can during the interview process. I feel for them, because I’ve been in their shoes.”
Students also must submit a portfolio of their work, a transcript and a one-page essay.
Positions include editor, managing editor, features editor, news editor and visuals editor.