The Royal Purple brought home seven awards from the 2017 Associated Collegiate Press Best of the Midwest Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota this last weekend.

The newspaper brought home second place in General Excellence and eighth place in the Special Edition category. Co Editor-in-Chief Kimberly Wethal won two awards for News Photography and one for a News Story. Biz and Tech Brad Allen won two awards, one for a Feature Story and one for a News Story.

“Being honored by the Associated Collegiate Press is a fantastic feeling, especially knowing we did it as a team,” C0 Editor-in-Chief Ashley McCallum. “Our staff puts in a lot of work, a lot of time and a lot of love into this paper, and they continue to impress me every week.”

The Best of the Midwest is a gathering of more than 200 students and journalism faculty attend seminars led by both journalism professionals and their peers and attend keynote speeches. In addition to attending sessions, Wethal, McCallum, Allen and Sports Editor Justin St. Peter taught seminars to their peers.

“These awards and seminar presentations are a strong testament to our students’ dedication to producing quality journalism for our community,” Wethal said. “Ashley and I could not be more proud of the staff.”

Allen presented on how to make Biz and Tech local and how to write about business. Wethal and St. Peter presented on how to properly write about sexual assault. McCallum taught a roomful of peers how to successfully implement a redesign.

Royal Purple editors will be attending the Wisconsin Newspaper Association conference on Friday to further expand their knowledge base on the journalism industry.