The staff at the Kentucky Kernel, the university’s independent student media outlet, won 50 awards during the Kentucky Press Association Winter Convention.
The convention, held on Friday, Jan. 23, in Louisville, Kentucky, recognizes the work of news outlets throughout Kentucky.
Out of the 50 awards won by the Kernel in the “Student Publication 2” category, there were 16 first-place awards, 20 second-place awards and 14 third-place awards.
The Kernel also received its eighth General Excellence award, an award given to the best publication in each category, according to the contest rules.
“I am feeling immense pride to be part of and to lead an organization that is competing with some of the top student journalists in Kentucky,” Editor-in-chief Giana Gallo said. “I still feel like any other college kid, so hearing real adult journalists congratulate us (the Kernel) with such earnestness was a high honor.”
Gallo said the Kernel saw eight category sweeps this year, only one less than in 2025. She said the opportunities for reporters to try out a variety of media types and news situations has allowed the Kernel to be successful.
“The University of Kentucky has a wealth of extraordinarily talented aspiring journalists on their campus. I learned that giving students enough room to spread their wings lets them truly shine,” Gallo said. “In the future, I want to continue pushing my staff to put out strong journalism and to push me to become a stronger journalist in turn.”
Gallo said she thanks UK student media adviser Ryan Craig and UK student media coordinator Bryce McNeil for their help and guidance throughout her time as editor-in-chief, as well as managing editor Kennedy Parker, the editors and staff for making all of its coverage possible.
Special projects editor Cara Raiford placed first and second for “Best Sports Picture,” her first collegiate award.
“The moment was unreal, I wasn’t expecting myself to place any higher than third,” Raiford said. “When I saw my name on the screen, I felt super proud of myself and that all of the years of work I put into improving my photography were starting to be recognized and pay off.”
Moving forward, Raiford said she feels confident she will continue to apply what she learns to her future work.
“We received plenty of awards to show we have an extremely talented staff,” Raiford said. “The work we put in showed how great our talents are individually and how great we are when we are all working together.”
Jonathon Bruner, sports editor of the Kernel, won third place for “Best Sports Story.” He said he was “proud of the sports desk as a whole” throughout the presentation of the awards.
“This was my first journalism award of any kind, so that was amazing in its own right, but seeing my other colleagues bring home awards and root each other on made the night extra special,” Bruner said. “I think the sports desk did phenomenal, we had multiple sweeps in sports-specific categories like best story and it was not just one person.”
Including Bruner, three active members of the sports desk and its former editor, Cole Parke, took home awards from KPA. Bruner said he was proud to be in a position to make the Kernel’s coverage even better in the future.“The Kernel proved yesterday that we are the standard for collegiate journalism in our state,” Bruner said. “Being around all my amazing colleagues and learning from professionals in the industry was a humbling moment I’ll never forget.”
List of Kernel KPA award winners:
Best Editorial Writer
2nd Place – Kentucky Kernel Staff
Best Breaking News Coverage
2nd Place – Abbey Cutrer
3rd Place – Laurel Swanz
Best General News Story
2nd Place – Casey Sebastiano
Best Feature Story
1st Place – Isabella Sepahban
2nd Place – Isabella Sepahban
3rd Place – Kennedy Parker
Best Columnist
1st Place – Aidan Dillard-Hijikata
2nd Place – Austin Coller
Best Sports Columnist
1st Place – Tyler Russell
2nd Place – Cole Parke
3rd Place – Jenna Lifshen
Best Sports Story
1st Place – Jenna Lifshen
2nd Place – Cole Parke
3rd Place – Jonathon Bruner
Best Sports Feature Story
2nd Place – Cole Parke
Best Enterprise or Analytical Story
3rd Place – Quézia Arruda Cunha
Best Investigative Story or Series
2nd Place – Quézia Arruda Cunha
3rd Place – Ava Bumgarner
Best On-Going/Extended Coverage Story
1st Place – Kentucky Kernel Staff
Best Business/Agribusiness Story
2nd Place – Zaida Bell-Frantz
3rd Place – Ramsey Jauregui
Best Use of Social Media or Multimedia
1st Place – Jackson Redish
Best Video
1st Place – Piper Renaud
2nd Place – Giana Gallo
Best Website
1st Place – Kentucky Kernel Staff
Best Breaking News Picture
1st Place – Hannah Piedad
2nd Place – Christian Kantosky
Best General News Picture
1st Place – Christian Kantosky
2nd Place – Peyton Tindall
Best Feature Picture
3rd Place – Abbey Cutrer
Best Picture Essay (Breaking, General or Feature)
1st Place – Abbey Cutrer
2nd Place – Christian Kantosky
3rd Place – Ava Bumgarner
Best Sports Picture
1st Place – Cara Raiford
2nd Place – Cara Raiford
3rd Place – Will Luckett
Best Sports Picture Essay
1st Place – Christian Kantosky, Sydney Novack and Cara Raiford
2nd Place – Matthew Mueller and Christian Kantosky
3rd Place – Matthew Mueller and Christian Kantosky
Best Special Section/Best Sports Special Section
1st Place – Kentucky Kernel Staff
2nd Place – Kentucky Kernel Staff
3rd Place – Ashleigh Jones
Best Sports Page/Section
1st Place – Ashleigh Jones
2nd Place – Akhila Nadimpalli
3rd Place – Akhila Nadimpalli
Best Editorial Page
1st Place – Ashleigh Jones
2nd Place – Akhila Nadimpalli
Best Front Page
2nd Place – Ashleigh Jones
3rd Place – Akhila Nadimpalli
Journalist of the Year
Christian Kantosky
General Excellence Award
Kentucky Kernel
