Monday, April 21, 2008

KUDOS for April 15 issue



As former editor of The South Texan Paul Martinez would say - "We are printing a 10-page extravaganza!" Paul is now with the Beaumont Enterprise, but he would have been very proud of the 10-page issue The South Texan staff produced for the week of April 15. The paper had solid news on pi and lifestyles with the controversial Miss TAMUK story, A good page2 layout and question, features on a variety of people and subjects (including STDs), an informative entertainment page, good sports and opinion pages and a solid page en Espanol. Well done. The only weakness was art - or the lack of powerful photos. All students did an excellent job this week, from the Spanish story on the zarzuela by Edwin Vasquez to features by Pam Hinojosa, Angela Palacios, Patrick Desmond and Jami Rash and Jaime Gonzalea, the ready was easy and entertaining. However, there were several standout performance. No. 1 this week was the performance by Jaime Gonzalez, who had five stories in this issue. Rubi Reyes and Roberta Flores (they are pictured at the top) each covered controversial stories with integrity and news savvy. Rubi tackled the controversial A&I/A&M name change issue. Her research led to the development of a series - the first for this year. Roberta covered the breaking story on the Miss TAMUK mix up which had the university crowning the wrong young women as the winner. She received several phone calls asking her not to publish the story, but she persisted and came up with a solid news story with quotes. Well done. Both Rubi's and Roberta's stories got at least regional attention. More importantly, The South Texan, thanks to them. . . got the scoop. They're in the pot for the $100. Good luck.