Wartburg College student media have taken numerous awards in regional and statewide contests.

Wartburg won first- and third-place place honors in the Associated Collegiate Press’ “Best of the Midwest Awards,” while capturing six firsts and 28 total awards in the Iowa College Media Association competition in results announced in February.

Nathan Ford,  a sophomore from Grinnell, won first place in the ACP contest among schools of all sizes for his work on a sports media package, which included video, photos and text. The Trumpet took third place for weekly newspapers.

Wartburg Television came away with four first places among 14 honors at the ICMA contest.

Shelby Granath, a senior from Rockford, Ill., received multiple awards, including first place for Best Documentary, “Remembering Aaron: Video Tribute for Aaron Wernimont,” about the 2009 Wartburg graduate, a two-time NCAA wrestling champion and Indiana School of Optometry student, who died suddenly of unexplained causes in March 2012.

Ben Hoppenworth, a senior from Waterloo, took first in Best Storytelling Package for “Impact of a Dry Harvest Season.” WTV also took top honors in Best News Programming for its special, “Jim Miller Steps Down,” a report on the retiring Wartburg wrestling coach who has won nine NCAA Division III championships, and Best Sportscasting for its Wartburg-Coe basketball broadcast.

“Winning awards like these says that students are getting the hands-on experience they need, and that they’re absolutely ready to go into the industry,” said Pamela Ohrt, associate professor of communication arts and ICMA executive director. “They’re actually producing materials that are award-winning and respected by people in the industry.”

In addition to the ICMA first places, Wartburg Television also took the following honors:

·     Best Newscast
2nd place — WTV team, Oct. 8 newscast
3rd place — WTV team, “Good Morning Waverly,” Oct. 12

·     Best Promo or Commercial
Honorable Mention — Kyle Palmolea, senior, Ankeny; “SportsKnight: “Stress Relief”

·     Best Storytelling Package
Honorable mention — Andrew Bridgewater, 2012 graduate; “Student Debt in Iowa”

·     Best Experimental Video
Honorable mention — Granath, “Wartburg Men’s Basketball Intro Video”

·     Long-form Documentary
2nd place — Granath, “Tazon De Estrellas” (an all-star football game in Mexico)
3rd place — Granath, “Wartburg Wrestling: Double Decade of Dominance”
Honorable mention — Bridgewater, “Waverly-Shell Rock Wrestling 2011-2012”

·     Best Corporate Video
2nd place – Granath, “Waverly Area Education Roundtable Manufacturing Video”

·     Best Sportscasting
3rd place — WTV team; Wartburg-Bethel football

The Circuit, Wartburg’s online news and information site, took first places for Best Interactive Graphic by Ta’Mone Williams, a junior from Waterloo, and Torie Jochims, a senior from Cedar Falls, on the YouthVote forum at Wartburg, while the staff was cited for Best Use of Social Media. The other honors were:

·     Best Online Video
Honorable Mention — Staff, “Bruce Braley visits Wartburg”

·     Best Breaking Story
2nd place — Staff, “Miller steps down as wrestling coach”

·     Best Multimedia Slide Show
3rd place — Laura DePenning, junior, Pella; Jochims; “Entertainment ToKnight presents Preston Pugmire”

The Trumpet took the following awards:

·     Best Inside Page Design
3rd place — Hannah Cox, senior, Epworth; “Two students knighted as Wartburg mascot”

·     Best Infographic
2nd place — Deidre Whipple, senior, Indianola; “Large Event attendance”

·     Best Sports Story
2nd place — Ford, “Déjà vu”

KWAR Radio took the following five honors:

·     Best Air Personality
2nd place — Tristan Gardner, senior, Milo; “Apples to Apples (Riddler segment)”

·     Best Promo
2nd place — Gardner, “KWAR Marathon”
3rd place — Gardner, “KWAR preschool voices”

·     Best News Programming
3rd place  — Gretta Stark, 2012 graduate, River Falls, Wis.; Holly Hejlik, sophomore, Rockwell; Brandon Hosch, senior, Epworth; Michael Posivio, senior, Iowa City; “Wartburg bomb threat”

·     Best Sports Broadcast
3rd place —Ford; Matthew Gruemmer, sophomore, Durant; Wartburg vs. Luther volleyball
2nd place — Ford, Hosch; Wartburg vs. Loras volleyball