Yahnseh Gains National Honors

Yahnseh, Oklahoma Baptist University's student-produced yearbook, claimed 16 honors in the 2003 Gold Circle Awards program, sponsored by the Columbia Student Press Association. 

The 20th annual Gold Circle Awards program recognizes individual achievement by student writers, editors, designers and photographers. The competition attracted 3,762 collegiate entries in 77 categories. There were 615 first-, second-, third-place or certificates of merit given in the college division.

A total of 168 yearbook awards were given in 28 categories. The awards were presented at the 2003 convention in New York City this spring.

The 2002 Yahnseh, titled "The Place," was edited by Ashley Corbett Campbell, from Broken Arrow. Students who gained national honors include Campbell, Jill Westberry, Melody Ruddell, Laura Bower, Joelle Miller, Denise Depuy, Chris Campbell, Erica Van Syoc, Kate Southall, and Brandi Grady.

In addition to the Gold Circle honors, Yahnseh was nominated as a finalist for the Pacemaker Award, the highest yearbook honor given by the Associated Press. That award will be announced in October. OBU was nominated with 10 other universities, including Kansas State, Indiana, California, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt and Michigan.

The OBU students picked up another 12 awards for their work from the Okalhoma Collegiate Press Association.

"I am so proud of the 2002 Yahnseh staff for the outstanding yearbook they produced," said Anne Hammond, OBU associate professor of English and longtime Yahnseh advisor. "It is gratifying to see their hard work and talents recognized by the professionals who judge the competition.

The 2002 Yahnseh was the last for Hammond, as she stepped down from the advisor's position after 15 years of consistently leading OBU to national recognition for yearbook quality.

"With Mrs. Hammond's announcement that the 2002 Yahnseh would be her last, the staff aimed especially hard to produce a book that she would be proud of and that would honor the tradition of excellence she worked so hard to establish," said Campbell.

"Being involved in the production of the Yahnseh allows students from every discipline to gain hands-on experience in working with a diverse staff to produce a nationally recognized publication," she added. "I couldn't be prouder of the staff I worked with. They endured countless edits and re-edits and in the end produced a publication of excellence."