This photograph of a free graffiti space under a highway at the edge of Paris, taken by Atlas Chambers ’24, was the lead photo for a news story written by Atlas that won a notable journalism award.
Staff members of The Current, Eckerd College’s daily, student-run newspaper, won five journalism awards recently—including two first-place honors from the Florida Society of News Editors.
Atlas Chambers ’24 captured first place for feature writing, and Leah Lentz, a junior creative writing and literature student from Medford, New Jersey, won first place in commentary for a collection of columns. Leah led this category last year as well.
Grey Curcio ’24 took second place in the breaking news category for a story about Eckerd College students who joined protests at New College, and Carter Weinhofer ’24 and Ian Shepperd ’24 shared second-place awards in sports writing for a story about micro wrestling, a professional competition where all participants are under five feet tall.
The Current editor-in-chief John Saxton, a senior literature student from Holliston, Massachusetts, took third place in sports writing for a story about the challenges Eckerd College athletes face training and competing in the Florida heat.
Established in 1955, the FSNE has more than 70 members representing nearly all of the large and medium-size newspaper outlets throughout the state. The awards were divided into two overarching categories: professional and (college) student.
Atlas’s winning story originally appeared in Cat. 5, Eckerd’s student magazine, and is titled “Southern (dis)comfort: Eckerd student battles feelings towards their home state.” These are its final three paragraphs:
It is so easy to hate a place like this. It is ugly at first, with too much heat, unforgiving weather, and worse politics. It is easy to assume that the people here are stupid. They hate change, they hate progress, and a lot of times, it seems like it can’t be worth it. It is messy to live here, and traumatic, knowing so many people who never made it past high school, knowing that you almost didn’t either.
You get sunburns on the way to work and rained on on the way home. It is hard to love a place like this. But then I watch black clouds spark in the sky just past my window, the rain crashing down as though my entire world has taken a deep breath out, letting everything go with it. I bury my fingers in my cat’s fur and the thunder shakes my walls. It says, “You are alive. You are alive. You are alive.”
It takes work to love this place. But I was raised in the South, so I’ve never been afraid to get my hands dirty.
Leah, who grew up reading John Steinbeck, Agatha Christie, Ocean Vuong “and whatever is in The New York Times,” won for a collection of opinion pieces, including “That long-distance college relationship may need some distance.” Here is an excerpt:
Every year, 2 million freshmen enter college, many of them in pre-existing, newly long-distance relationships and hoping to become high school sweethearts that marry at 25 and love each other forever. And every year, I, selfishly and cruelly, hope they break up, because I am filled with spite and hatred.
At the very least, long-distance freshmen couples are facing problems they haven’t faced before. Your boyfriend joined a frat and absolutely must take a girl from ADPi to their fall formal. Your girlfriend keeps hanging out, one-on-one, with someone named Shane, who she says is a girl, but do you believe that?
Other columnists might tell you to talk things out, or that if you trust your partner, there’s no reason to worry. I am here to tell you something that you will not like: You need some time apart.
Janet Keeler, Ed.D., visiting assistant professor of journalism and communication as well as The Triton student news publications faculty adviser, says she’s proud of the staff’s coverage of the Eckerd community. “Their energy and connection to life on campus always result in excellent story ideas,” she explains. “Our student journalists cover the campus as they juggle classes, work and other extracurricular activities. That’s why this recognition is especially meaningful.”
The food and travel editor at the Tampa Bay Times for 15 years before coming to Eckerd to teach, Keeler added that The Current staff once again faced daunting competition.
Janet Keeler, Ed.D.
“We were up against some heavy-hitting, big-university journalism programs,” she says, “and we held our own.”
That sense of pride was shared by the students. “It’s immensely rewarding to have the FSNE recognize the importance of student journalism throughout the state, be it serious or silly,” Leah says. “And I’m so grateful to be awarded first place in commentary.
“I wouldn’t even be able to put in for the award if it wasn’t for my wonderful editors and faculty who have long encouraged my pot-stirring ways. Janet [Keeler], John [Saxton] and Maddy [The Current managing editor Madison DeVore] have done incredible work continuing earlier editors’ missions to bring Triton Publications to the next level, and I feel absolutely blessed to work with them.”
John spent most of the 2023 fall semester assembling and writing “Eckerd athletes battle ‘endless summer,’” which also originally appeared in Eckerd’s Cat. 5 magazine. “It was wickedly hot that summer, even for Florida,” John explains. “Eckerd athletes come from all over the globe, and it was really tough for some of them to acclimate. I learned how grueling the process really is, about the health risks and about the precautions taken. And not just at Eckerd. It applies to athletes in Florida and beyond.
“When I first wrote the story, Professor Keeler pushed me to include more background information like weather patterns in Florida, so I could make the story more far-reaching than the Eckerd community. I know that really helped.”
It also was announced recently that Eckerd senior Nicholas Alexander Hess, a marine science student and former Current photo editor from Glendale, California, has been named Young Mangrove Photographer of the Year for an underwater photo he took of a saltwater crocodile in Australia. “He’s done some amazing photo work while in Australia,” Keeler says, “and this is a prestigious honor from the international Mangrove [Action] Project.”
