Continuing Their Winning Ways

ENN students brought home the hardware at the annual Oklahoma Scholastic Media competition

From left, Cya'Lyce Harris, Rylee Byers, Harrison Favero, Kinzie Click, Jada Schenck, Matt Disney, Amy Martinez-Reynolds, Madison Horton, Trezli Cramer, Maleigha Ude, Alyssa Carter, Jenna McKey and Joshlyn McKey.

Epic News Network students attended the annual Oklahoma Scholastic Media Spring Media day in April. 

This event brings together high school journalists from around the state to learn about journalism, photography and the media environment on the University of Oklahoma campus.

This is also the time the students learn how their work fared against other student journalism productions in the annual student media awards. These awards represent the work of students in our journalism classes, taught by Jeff Raymond, our Tulsa media courses, taught by Elizabeth Stidham, our advanced media courses, taught by Phil Cross, and our photography courses taught by Mary Beth Jamison.

“This team of teachers does amazing things. They are responsible for an intensive journalism and creative media education that is presented virtually to students all across Oklahoma,” ENN Journalism and Creative Media Director Phil Cross said. 

“The ENN program works with nearly 400 students over the course of a year and these awards are well deserved recognition of the hard work they put in," he said.

This year, the ENN program and students won 11 awards for reporting, video production and graphic design. 

Epic competes in the Division 1 category, which pits our students against the largest districts in Oklahoma and often against well-established journalism programs with many more active students. 

Among those 11 awards were two first-place winners. Hooriyah Kamran won first place in the feature writing-culture category for her in-depth article about Ramadan and how it connects Muslims across many cultures. ENN Advanced Video Production student Corbin Carpenter won first place in the video news category for his first-semester documentary project about the new “Bell-to-Bell No Cell” policy.

Finally, the Epic News Network website was reviewed by judges for the Critical Service awards.This award is a holistic review of the publications that covers the quality of reporting and service provided. 

The ENN website was awarded the "Highest Honors" distinction which allowed us to go on to compete and win the "All Oklahoma" designation for the Epic News Network. 

Only a few schools have the points to win in this category.

Here's a list of ENN's winning entries.

• Blog Entry

  • Second Place: Kaylee Steer, The Internet Rebrands Bullying and Teens Pay the Price

• Feature Writing - Culture

  • First Place: Hooriyah Kamran, Ramadan Traditions Connect Muslims Across Culture

  • Second Place: Harrison Favero, Metro Youth Theatre Brings Magic of Live Theatre to Families

• Graphic Design Element

  • Honorable Mention: Bradley Denton, Photo Illustration: Roblocked? Child Safety Concerns Prompt Oklahoma to Take Action

• News Reporting - General

  • Second Place: Trezli Cramer, Epic Audit Finds Causes for Past Financial Problems

• News Reporting - Student Life

  • Honorable Mention: Maleigha Ude, Devin Fogle’s Time Travel Romp

• News Reporting - Technology

  • Third Place: Hooriyah Kamran, RoBlocked? Child Safety Concerns Prompt Oklahoma to Take Action

• Video News Story

  • Corbin Carpenter, Bell-to-Bell No Cell Documentary Project

• News Reporting - Community

  • Third Place: Joshlyn McKey, Blown Whistles, Broken Culture. Why Youth Sports Officials Are Walking Away

• On Deadline - Online Critique Column

  • Honorable Mention: Joshlyn McKey, REVIEW: Missed Nominations

• On-Deadline - Opinion Column

  • Honorable Mention: Bella Buckner, I Didn’t Use AI to Write This

• On-Deadline - Promotional Video

  • Second Place: Hazel Scott, Motionless Car