(MURRAY, Ky.) – Student journalists from The Murray State News brought home seven Pinnacle Awards from a national collegiate media conference, more than doubling their performance from the previous year.
The awards, announced during the College Media Association’s MediaFest in Washington, D.C., Oct. 15-18, included two first-place honors and recognition for work ranging from breaking news coverage to magazine profiles.
Aly Adler, Ania Boutin and River Murt captured top honors for their breaking news multimedia coverage of a February 2025 power outage. Boutin earned a second first-place award for “Climbing to Freedom,” a profile story published in Gateway magazine.
The competition drew more than 3,300 entries from student media organizations nationwide, with 1,165 finalists selected across eight categories. The Murray State publication competed in Division II, facing schools including Vanderbilt University, Tulane University and Southern Methodist University.
“The Murray State News won three Pinnacles in 2024, and we’ve doubled that in 2025,” said Leigh Landini Wright, the publication’s adviser and an associate professor of journalism at Murray State. Wright herself received the Emerging Advisor Award during the conference.
Additional awards included third place for Elisha Butryn’s print advertisement and three honorable mentions: Kristopher Fister for sports photography, MacKenzie Rogers and Fister for newspaper spread design, and Zackary Claggett for an audio-video feature story about a music business student.
Editor-in-Chief Zach Simmons, who joined The News as sports editor last year, credited the staff’s commitment to quality journalism.
“I am so happy with our staff and what they’ve put into this organization,” Simmons said. “The continued hard work ethic has carried over, and I’m really happy to be around such a dedicated crew.”
The publication transitioned to a digital-first model in fall 2023, shifting from weekly print editions to online publication with a monthly printed newspaper. The News also produces two annual magazines: Gateway, featuring stories about western Kentucky, and Racer Guide, an orientation publication for incoming students.
Founded in 1927, The Murray State News ranks among the Associated Collegiate Press Pacemaker Top 100 news organizations. The publication is available online at www.murraystatenews.org.
