University of the Virgin Islands students and the student newspaper UVI VOICE took home four wins, including a first place, at the 10th Annual National HBCU Student Newspaper Conference.

Carl A. Christopher won first place in the "Best Editorial Cartoon" category for his "smoke signal" cartoon in the UVI VOICE's Technology Issue. The UVI VOICE won third pace in the "Best Special Section or Theme Edition" for the Technology Issue. Miriam Welderufael won an honorable mention in the "Best Informational Graphic" category for "The Freshman 15: Myth or Fact." Also winning an honorable mention was Jane Meade in the "Best Feature Writing" category for her article "Celebrated Journalist Discusses 'Winds of Change' in the New Africa" featuring Charlayne Hunter-Gault.

UVI VOICE Faculty Advisor and UVI's Communication Program Coordinator Dr. Robin Sterns is thrilled about the awards.

"Our students were competing directly with students from all of the HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) - there are no 'big school/small school' categories. So our first place and third place awards are major accomplishments," Dr. Sterns explained in an e-mail to UVI faculty and staff. "What amazes me about this and what impresses me is that there are schools that do a cartoon editorial five days a week all year long," Dr. Sterns said in an interview. UVI VOICE is published about four times a semester. "It is absolutely phenomenal that he (Christopher) would win."

The UVI VOICE Technology Issue that garnered two wins was published in October 2007. It focused on problems that plagued the University as results of a lightening strike and UVI's conversion to a new information system. That issue featured eight news stories, editorials and opinion pieces about the technology problems. Five UVI students and one UVI administrator contributed to the articles.

Attending the conference were St. Croix Campus Managing Editor Miriam Welderufael, St. Thomas Campus Managing Editor Aslin Leger, reporter/copyeditor Sana Hamed, reporter Andrea Soto, and Dr. Sterns. The conference was hosted by Morgan State University in Baltimore.

Welderufael and Leger selected and entered the content for competition. Leger said that in considering what stories to enter in the competition she and Welderufael looked at the stories that generated the most feedback from the UVI community.

Leger described the conference as "phenomenal," with its networking opportunities and informative workshops. "It feels like it's not a competition. We all learn from each other," Leger said.

Impressed by the UVI group, several organizations have shown interest in the students. An editor of the Detroit News has offered a paid internship to one student and two graduate journalism program directors are recruiting the students for their graduate programs, said Dr. Sterns, who is also a UVI English professor.

This is the second consecutive year the UVI VOICE has won awards at the conference. Last year UVI VOICE won second place in the "News Series" category and second place in the "Editorials" category. UVI is a charter member of the Black College Communication Association, which sponsors the conference.

For more information call Dr. Robin Sterns at 692-4124.

UVI VOICE is distributed on UVI's St. Thomas and St. Croix campuses. It can also be viewed online from this direct link.