Webster Student-Journalists and Their Adviser Earn Record Number of Awards at Statewide Competition

Webster University’s student-produced publications secured a combined total of 29 awards, including recognition for Professor Trish Muyco-Tobin as Adviser of the Year, at the 2026 Missouri College Media Association (MCMA) convention and awards ceremony held in Springfield April 11.

A longtime Webster Groves resident, Muyco-Tobin teaches communications and journalism classes at the university and serves as faculty adviser for The Journal newspaper and the Ampersand magazine.

The Journal earned 24 awards in its division, including six first-place finishes. Among them, international student Krishtina Regmi’s column, “Nepal in Flames: Watching My Country Rise Again.”

“I wrote it from a very real, very authentic place. I’m not very into writing, so it was definitely new,” Regmi said. “But being here, at Webster, I have been given the chance to represent and to talk about my country.”

The Ampersand magazine, in its first year of MCMA competition since returning to print last fall, earned five awards. Editor-in-chief Emerson Goelz championed for the return of the Ampersand, working with a small team to bring the magazine back following its hiatus.

“It has not been an easy journey with the Ampersand,” Goelz said. “A lot of hours have been put into that magazine, so the fact that we were able to be awarded for that – it felt good.”

Muyco-Tobin received one of the evening’s top overall awards, Adviser of the Year.

“It has been very overwhelming, just hearing from people from across campus and beyond, validating what I’ve been doing all this time,” said Muyco-Tobin, who has been teaching at Webster since 2019 after almost three decades as a working journalist.

Muyco-Tobin said winning the award would not be possible without her student-journalists and the quality content they create.

“It’s not an individual award. It’s definitely a team award – and that really was my very first thought when I heard my name announced,” Muyco-Tobin said.

Both The Journal and the Ampersand maintain a highly visible presence on campus throughout the school year. This spring, The Journal published its latest special edition, “The Issue with Food,” to address campus dining, the rising cost of groceries, and how sitting down for a meal builds community among the student body. The staff of the Ampersand is currently producing its upcoming summer edition, which will publish in early May.