In late October at the National College Media Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, Muncie native Brooke Kemp not only won two awards for news writing,  but also accepted eight other honors as the managing editor of the  Ball State Daily News.

Competing against hundreds of entries across the nation, Kemp’s article, “Living Form: The man behind the masks” won a second-place Pinnacle award plus a fourth-place Pacemaker award in the multimedia feature story of the year category.

The Daily News also won a first-place Pinnacle award and a third-place Best of Show as a Four-Year Weekly Newspaper, as well as four other design and website honors.

“I came into the Daily News as a freshman reporter overwhelmed and intimidated thinking I’ll never catch up to the talented writers who surrounded me,” Kemp said. “But I found my passion here, learned so much and have developed as a leader. These awards reveal the strides we’ve made as an organization.”

The junior journalism news and telecommunications dual major is working to to improve the entire organization. If she’s not in class, she’s in the Unified Media Lab guiding reporters, monitoring the newsroom and making significant decisions to enhance student media.

In addition to her duties as managing editor, she squeezes in time to write award-winning stories. For “Living Form: The man behind the masks,” Kemp and her team dug deep into the vibrantly artistic life of a mask-maker — interviewing the artist for three hours one day, and helped film him in action for another three days.

“I’m so honored the Daily News has won these various national awards. The Daily News is so strong because it’s an organization of people dedicated to learning, growing and serving the community through in-depth news coverage.”