Owl Media's Winning Streak Continues with Five National Apple Awards

Owl Media, the student multimedia publication of Harford Community College, brought back five national Apple Awards from the Spring College Media Association Convention. Owl Media earned second place in three categories, third in one category, and one honorable mention for 2025-26.

Student media publications from across the country entered the competition. Winners were announced at the National College Media Convention in New York City, which was held from March 4 to 7, 2026.

This was the last year that the College Media Association will hold a conference in New York City, and the final year the Apple Awards took place.

Only three years after transitioning from a print magazine to an online platform, Owl Media earned a third award for its website, placing second for Best Feature Website.

Nneka Iweanya, Tacy Brown, and Eleni Fotis won second place in the Best Multimedia Package (Two-Year) category for their multimedia package "Drawing the Line: Students React to Extremist Group on Campus."

Javier Benjamin won second place in the Best Opinion Column (Two-Year) category for his article "From Problematic to Unlimited Potential: My Life With Autism."

Eleni Fotis and Tacy Brown won third place in the Best Social Media Coverage of a Single Event (Two-Year, Division III) category for "Harford Mall ICE Protest."

Luke Teigue won an honorable mention in the Best Feature Photography (Two-Year) category for "Life Through the Lens: Capturing the Essence of a Day in Manhattan."

The 2025-26 student staff included Gabriel Bassford, Javier Benjamin, Josh Brethauer, Brooklynn Brown, Tacy Brown, Mackenzie Cooney, Samuel DeMelo, Eleni Fotis, Hannah Henson, Kalise Huber, Alanna Hutton, Nneka Iweanya, Tokoni Kamsiyochi Angol, Brieanna Kozlowski, Colin Lowry, Ann Mervin, Derek Roy, Yvette Seth, Owen Swain, and Luke Teigue. Claudia Brown acted as Chief Adviser while Brendan Flanagan was the Technical Adviser. Additional mentoring and student support was provided by Faras Aamir and John Morin.

Owl Media released print magazines from 2011-20, has been publishing videos on YouTube and Facebook since 2014, and launched a website in late 2022. The publication has won 73 national awards since 2012.

Readers can follow the nationally award-winning publication on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, as well as the website, owlmedia.org.

Credit options, work study, and paid positions are available for students interested in joining the staff. Email harfowl@harford.edu or reach out via social media for more information.