Concordia student newspaper, The Sower, wins awards at the 2019 Northern Plains Collegiate Media Association Conference

Concordia University, Nebraska hosted the 2019 Northern Plains Collegiate Media Association (NPCMA) Spring Conference and Golden Leaf Awards Luncheon April 13, where the Concordia student newspaper, The Sower won 12 awards.

The NPCMA is comprised of six schools, including Chadron State College, Doane University, Peru State College, Wayne State College, the University of Nebraska – Kearney and Concordia University, Nebraska. Of those teams, The Sower received first place in Best Social Media Presence, second place in Best News Package (for a grouping of study abroad stories in their August issue) and third place in Best Social Media Main Page, Best Overall Website, Best Online Homepage and Best Overall Design.

“Meeting with students from other college newspapers showed us that we at The Sower are not alone in what we do to provide news to our student body,” said Morgan Consier, managing editor of The Sower. “The speakers we listened to at the conference showed us that even though we are just a student newspaper at a small college, the news we cover still matters. There is no such thing as a small or insignificant story, and it is important for our paper to continue covering what is going on around Concordia and what Concordia students are up to.”

Concordia students on The Sower staff also received individual awards. Head copy editor April Bayer was awarded second place in Best Column for her writing in “Arm Me With Courage,” while Nicholas Boys was awarded second place in Best Sports Feature Story for his feature on Concordia alumnus Ceron Francisco. Laura VonKampen’s “Victory Bell” and Garion Consier’s Tree Lighting” photos earned second place in Best Sports Feature Photo and Best General News Photo, respectively. Additionally, Morgan Consier and Paige Uzzell were awarded third place for Best Arts and Entertainment Story and Best Investigative Story, respectively.

 “Our staff has worked really hard over the past year so it was gratifying to be able to host an awards ceremony that would recognize their achievements,” said Consier. “We have some really talented students working on our team so for them to be able to receive awards for their stories and photos was really cool.”

Concordia students honored with awards include (alphabetical by state/country, city, last name):

Nicholas Boys, senior, Brisbane, Australia, received second place for Best Sports Feature Story

Laura VonKampen, freshman, Atkins, Iowa, received second place for Best Sports Feature Photo

Garion Consier, senior, Churdan, Iowa, received second place for Best General News Photo

Morgan Consier, senior, Holstein, Iowa, received third place for Arts and Entertainment Story

April Bayer, senior, Leigh, Neb., received second place for Best Column

Paige Uzzell, freshman, Norfolk, Neb., received third place for Best Investigative Story