The staff of the Kentucky Kernel, the University of Kentucky’s independent student news outlet, won a total of 48 awards, including the General Excellence Award, during the Kentucky Press Association Winter Convention banquet.
The banquet, held on Friday, Jan. 24 in Lexington, recognized the work of news outlets across the state of Kentucky.
Out of the 48 awards won by the Kernel in the “Student Publication 2” division, there were 16 first-place awards, 15 second-place awards, 15 third-place awards and two certificates of merit.
Alongside the first-place awards, the Kernel also won their seventh consecutive General Excellence Award, an award given to the best news outlet of each division, according to the Kentucky Press Association (KPA) news and advertising contest rules.
“Over the past seven years, I think the Kernel has solidified that we have been and continue to be the best newsroom in the state of Kentucky and one of the best in the country,” UK Student Media Advisor Ryan Craig said.
Craig, who won the Russ Metz Most Valuable Member Award during the convention, said he was very proud of the staff and was looking forward to the next KPA convention.
“As we head more into the digital age, we’re looking to advance our storytelling and even be more agile when it comes to how we cover our stories,” Craig said. “Be it through traditional means or new digital means.”
UK Student Media Coordinator Bryce McNeil said the awards won by the Kernel were based on the “wide scope” of work done by Kernel members.
“We’re not just doing one aspect of journalism very well, we’re doing many aspects of journalism well,” McNeil said. “I think the recognition we receive reflects that.”
For some Kernelites, like News Editor Lilly Keith, this was her first time winning a KPA award.
“I went in thinking that I might get a second-place or a third-place,” Keith said. “But when I saw that it was first place for two awards, I don’t think that I would have expected that in my wildest dreams.”
Keith said winning the two awards reassured her when it came to her abilities as a journalist.
“I’m just extremely grateful for the Kernel and everything it’s done for me,” Keith said. “Because if I didn’t have it, my college experience would look much different.”
Kernel Editor-in-Chief Abbey Cutrer said she was proud of the Kernel staff for their accomplishments this year.
“All of the work that we did last semester truly paid off, and the awards are just a reflection of the incredible hard work that all of the staff did last year,” Cutrer said.
Cutrer said she owed all of her top awards to her professor, David Stephenson, and said it was an honor for her to have been a part of KPA during her college career.
“I always love getting to talk to so many talented journalists,” Cutrer said. “Especially being there with my advisors and getting to see all of the young people who are coming into journalism experience this for the first time.”
Sports Editor Cole Parke said he could not have “fathomed” how well he would have done in KPA beforehand, and said he owed much of his success to the Kernel and the people within the news outlet.
“I was pretty honored to be surrounded by other very talented journalists,” Parke said.
Parke was surprised, he said, to win awards for certain categories that did not normally highlight sports.
“It’s easy . . . to feel like the work we do is overlooked sometimes or that we’re doing so much for so little,” Parke said. “But it was really special to have a night to celebrate all the hard work we’ve done and see the fruits for the trees we planted.”
List of Kentucky Kernel KPA award winners:
Russ Metz Most Valuable Member Award
Winner – Ryan Craig
Best Editorial Writer
Certificate of Merit – Staff
Best Breaking News Coverage
3rd place – Abbey Cutrer and Casey Sebastiano
Best General News Story
1st place – Lilly Keith
3rd place – Laurel Swanz
Best Feature Story
3rd place – Reaghan Chen
Best Columnist
1st place – Peyton Keyes
2nd place – Austin Collier
3rd place – Owen Chesemore
Best Sports Columnist
1st place – Ali Cetinok
2nd place – Sara Gibson
3rd place – Cole Parke
Best Sports Story
1st place – Cole Parke
2nd place – Cole Parke
3rd place – Colton Johnson
Best Enterprise or Analytical Story
3rd place – Taylor Moon
Best Investigative Story or Series
3rd place – Hannah Stanley
Best Business/Agribusiness Story
1st place – Lilly Keith
2nd place – Gracie Moore
Best Lede
2nd place – Cole Parke
Best Use of Social Media or Multimedia
1st place – Staff
Best Video
2nd place – Bryce Towle
Best Website
1st place – Staff
Best Breaking News Picture
1st place – Matthew Mueller
2nd place – Abbey Cutrer
3rd place – Alexis Baker
Best General News Picture
1st place – Abbey Cutrer
2nd place – Abbey Cutrer
3rd place – Najma Amarkhail
Best Feature Picture
2nd place – Samuel Colmar
3rd place – Abbey Cutrer
Best Picture Essay (Breaking, General or Feature)
1st place – Matthew Mueller
2nd place – Matthew Mueller and Samuel Colmar
3rd place – Abbey Cutrer and Samuel Colmar
Best Sports Picture
1st place – Abbey Cutrer
2nd place – Samuel Colmar
3rd place – Samuel Colmar
Best Sports Picture Essay
1st place – Abbey Cutrer and Samuel Colmar
2nd place – Abbey Cutrer and Samuel Colmar
3rd place – Isaiah Pinto and Sydney Yonker
Best Special Section/Best Sports Special Section
1st place – Staff
2nd place – Abbey Cutrer
3rd place – Akhila Nadimpalli
Best Sports Page/Section
1st place – Akhila Nadimpalli
2nd place – Akhila Nadimpalli
Best Editorial Page
Certificate of Merit – Akhila Nadimpalli
Best Headline Writer
1st place – Cole Parke
2nd place – Hannah Stanley
General Excellence
1st place – Staff