On Friday, March 31, six members of The Vision staff ventured to Oxford for the annual Mississippi Scholastic Press Association state convention, where they attended multiple varied journalistic seminars before attending an award ceremony where The Vision won two first place awards and recognition in nine other categories.

The convention opened bright and early Friday morning, with dozens of high school journalists clamoring over the Grove of Ole Miss, searching for a dose of eye-opening caffeine from the complementary breakfast line before heading off to their respective seminars.

The topics covered in the seminars varied from lessons on aerial photography in a seminar called “ATTACK OF THE DRONES!!!” to the attacks on journalists by the Trump administration in a seminar called “ENEMIES OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE?”

After the seminars concluded the young journalists were invited to move across the Grove to attend the awards ceremony where The Vision and its staff received eleven recognitions in varying categories. These categories include:

• Best Opinion Writing, The Vision: Winner
• Best Review, Noah Hunt: Winner
• Best News and Feature Writing, The Vision: Finalist
• Best Online Presence, The Vision: Finalist
• Best Feature Story, Jax Dallas: Finalist
• Best Opinion Piece, Yousef Abu Salah: Finalist
• Best Review, Jax Dallas: Finalist
• Best Cartoon, Rebecca Chen: Finalist
• Best News Photo, Mariat Thankachan
• Best Feature Photo, Jax Dallas: Finalist
• Best Sports Photo, Noah Hunt: Finalist

MSMS’s literary magazine, “Southern Voices,” also placed well, achieving the following awards:

• Best Short Fiction, Michelle Li: Winner
• Best Short Fiction, Joy Carino: Finalist
• Best Short Fiction, Summar McGee: Finalist
• Best Poem, Carly Sneed: Winner
• Best Poem, Summar McGee: Finalist
• Best Poem, Laurel Lancaster: Finalist
• Best Nonfiction, Jenny Bobo: Winner
• Best Nonfiction, Reagan Poston: Finalist
• Best Nonfiction, Joy Carino: Finalist
• Best Hand-Drawn Illustration, Lauryn Elaine Smith: Finalist
• Best Photo, West Givens: Finalist