More than two dozen students from Texas Tech University’s Department of Agricultural Education & Communications were presented a broad series of honors across six categories this week at the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow national meeting in Palm Springs, California. 

“Our department is extremely proud of the representation from our chapter of ACT at the Agricultural Media Summit,” said Scott Burris, chair of Tech’s, Department of Agricultural Education & Communications. “Their numerous accolades and accomplishments speak both to the quality of agricultural communications students at Texas Tech and the quality of our nationally acclaimed Agricultural Communications program.”

According to the ACT website, the annual ACT meeting was held in conjunction with the national Agricultural Media Summit. Launched in 1999, the summit is the largest gathering of the agriculture industry’s top writers, editors, photographers, publishers and strategic communicators in the U.S. 

Department of Agricultural Education & Communications students placed in all divisions and had two Award of Excellence winners. Allie Herring received the ‘Award of Excellence in Writing’ and Riley Hoyle (’23,BS,Agricutural Communications) was presented the ‘Award of Excellence in Public Relations.’

Among the other Texas Tech winners from the 2023 ACT Critique & Contest program were:

Writing Division

• 1st Place Long Personality Profile – Allie Herring
• 1st Place Single Blog Entry – Allie Herring
• 2nd Place Single Blog Entry – Kylie Farmer
• 3rd Place Long Feature Story – Carlye Winfrey
• 4th Place Short Feature Story – Allie Herring
• 1st Place News Story – Ryan Hess
• 2nd Place News Story – Caroline Leach

Public Relations Division

• 1st Place Single Social Media Post – Riley Hoyle
• 2nd Place Press/News Release – Cambry Cline
• 1st Place Social Media Campaign – Kylie Farmer & McKenna Pavelock
• 1st Place Public Relations Campaign – Cambry Cline, Brooklyn Tyson, Lauren Berry & Bridget McGuffin
• 2nd Place Public Relations Campaign – Sophia McMurray & Kassidy Bogle
• 3rd Place Public Relations Campaign – Riley Greiten, Breely Huguley, Kamri Carper & James Brady

Design & Layout Division

• 2nd Place Web Design – Molly Johnson
• 4th Place Web Design – Kylie Farmer & McKenna Pavelock
• 1st Place Blog Design – Emmy Walley

Publication Division

• 3rd Place Brochure or Pamphlet – Kylie Farmer

Electronic Media Division

• 2nd Place Radio Package – Kylie Farmer

Photography Division

• 1st Place Other Photo – Kyler Hardegree
• 4th Place Other Photo – Jacey Cathey
• 6th Place Other Photo – Allie Herring
• 8th Place Other Photo – Marshal Gillit
• 1st Place Scenic Photo – Emma Taber
• 2nd Place Scenic Photo – Allie Herring
• 5th Place Scenic Photo – Kynzie Hardegree
• 6th Place Scenic Photo – Hannah Hudgens
• 7th Place Scenic Photo – Jacey Cathey
• 2nd Place Photo Series – Emma Taber
• 4th Place Photo Series – Kourtney Gibson
• 5th Place Photo Series – Kyler Hardegree
• 2nd Place Black & White Photo – Molly Johnson
• 3rd Place Black & White Photo – Hannah Hudgens
• 4th Place Black & White Photo – McKenna Pavelock
• 7th Place Black & White Photo – Allie Herring
• 2nd Place Animal Photo – McKenna Pavelock
• 6th Place Animal Photo – Kylie Farmer
• 4th Place People Photo – Kylie Farmer
• 5th Place People Photo – Riley Hoyle
• 7th Place People Photo – Kourtney Gibson
• 10th Place People Photo – McKenna Pavelock

Tech’s Department of Agricultural Education & Communications has 15 faculty members with more than 300 undergraduate students and 100 graduate students. Faculty members specialize in one of three disciplinary areas: teacher education, agricultural communications, and agricultural leadership. Master's degrees are available in agricultural education and agricultural communications, and a departmental Ph.D. program allows students to focus on any of the three areas. In addition, graduate certificates are available in agricultural leadership and agricultural communication.

CONTACT: Scott Burris, Chair, Department of Agricultural Education & Communications, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-8689 or scott.burris@ttu.edu

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