Student journalists of all three publications at Collegian Media Group won 46 awards, including the 4-Year Journalist of the Year award this past weekend at the Kansas Collegiate Media Conference at Wichita State University.
With 20 students and all three advisers attending the state conference this past weekend, the students attended sessions with current and former journalists from The Wichita Eagle, networked with fellow students and CMG provided a pitch session on becoming an “advertising agency” for fellow KCM schools for the 2026-2027 school year.
For the first time in six years, CMG brought home the 4-Year Journalist of the Year when K-State Collegian editor-in-chief Meredith McCalmon was announced as the winner on Sunday evening. This is CMG and K-State’s first JOY award since The Collegian’s Kayle McLaughlin won the prestigious award in 2020. Johnson is now an award-winning reporter for the Johnson County Post in Kansas City with KCUR.
McCalmon has spent her four years at K-State as a member of The Collegian and was ecstatic to be selected for the honor.
“It’s a huge honor and I feel so grateful and humbled to be selected,” McCalmon said. “I owe a lot to my amazing team of editors whose ideas and support made this year so special.”
Working for CMG’s flagship publication has provided her the type of experience to thrive well after her college graduation next month.
“I would define the past four years as transformative, mainly for myself,” McCalmon said. “I’ve learned so much working for The Collegian and grown as a person. The real-world experience I gained made me more confident and knowledgeable, not only about journalism, but about the world and myself.”
Associate Director Daren Lee Lewis and incoming assistant advertising manager Jadyn Stuever gave a presentation on their advertising and creative team providing services to other KCM member schools as an advertising agency for their publications and digital products.
Lewis believes the interest was strong from several schools and anticipates negotiating new partnerships with CMG for advertising services starting next school year.
“The student staff in the Collegian Media Group advertising department are excited for a new opportunity to help their clients extend their advertising reach to additional media channels at publications at universities across Kansas and provide those universities with potential advertising revenue that would otherwise be unavailable to them,” said Lewis.
Manhappenin’ Magazine won 12 awards including an All-Kansas honor as the best student magazine in Kansas. Two-year editor-in-chief Kamryn Fleischer is appreciative of the growth for Manhappenin’ the last three years.
Most importantly, she is thankful for the foundation of the team and what the future looks like for the publication.
“Looking back on the past three years with Manhappenin’, it’s really special to see how much we’ve grown, especially over the last year,” said Fleischer. “Getting recognized at KCM felt like a full-circle moment for our team and all the work we’ve put in.”
“Being editor-in-chief for the past two years has meant so much to me, and I’m just really proud of what we’ve built and I can’t wait to see how the team will continue to excel.”
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