AC Current, Ranger win awards

AC Current, the Amarillo College student magazine, won three first-place certificates and placed third in the general magazine sweepstakes in Texas Intercollegiate Press Association competition announced April 5.

Overall, AC journalism and graphic design students received 11 TIPA awards.

"This magazine is so original," wrote one of the judges. "I love the creative design. Great work with limited resources and use of color."

Another judge wrote, "The fall edition's design is highly sophisticated for a college publication."

About the spring edition, the judge continued, "The content is engaging. Overall, there are some terrific demonstrations of college work, but the content and design cohesiveness could still be improved."

Two of the first-place awards went to Ryan Riley, who was co-editor of the spring 2002 magazine and assisted with the fall 2002 issue.

He won for photos of Amarillo's Sixth Avenue and for a magazine column about Sixth Avenue.

"The creative display of artwork complements a well-written story," a judge wrote about Riley's photos and column.

Alexandra Harcha and Danny Spence collaborated for first place with their magazine illustration based on a Spence photograph.

"I'm very impressed by the style of this illustration," one judge wrote. "You've taken a strong photo and tweaked it without destroying its original effect."

The magazine took three second-place awards.

Design editor Harcha and content editor Brendan Funtek placed second in the single-issue category with the fall 2002 edition as did Jennifer Schraag for her magazine column and Spence for his feature photo, a black-and-white close-up of leaves.

A judge wrote, "Your photography is first-rate. There isn't a single photo that doesn't look like a professional took it."

AC Current also received honorable mention in the overall general magazine category for the spring and fall 2002 issues, edited by Riley, Schraag, Harcha and Funtek.

The Ranger student newspaper took two third-place awards for Funtek's critical review of a CD and a feature story by Kenneth Malone.

Funtek and Malone combined to receive honorable mention for their series of stories on the death penalty.

The Ranger was placed in Division II with other Texas colleges of similar size.

AC competed against two- and four-year schools in the magazine division, finishing behind first-place Texas Christian University and second-place San Antonio College in the magazine sweepstakes.

Magazine judges were staff members of Delaware Today and Alaska Business magazines. Newspaper judges were from papers in Arizona, Connecticut, Louisiana and Wyoming.