The Baxter Bulletin recently took home five awards in the Arkansas Associated Press Media Editors 2016 newspaper contest thanks to Haitian journalist Billy Jean-Louis who won three of the five awards.
Competing in the Division II category for midsize newspapers, Bulletin staff members received awards in the categories of education reporting, news feature, special project-community service and sports writing.
Jean-Louis won first place in the education reporting category for “Teaching Money Management, second place in the education reporting category for “Back to School and third place in the news feature category for “Heeding The Call.”
Thirteen Arkansas newspapers submitted 540 entries in the contest, which featured news and sports stories, features, editorials, columns, graphics and photos from 2016.
Born and raised in Haiti, Jean-Louis moved to Florida in 2008 as a 17 year old junior in high school, he graduated from UF with a bachelor’s of science in journalism fall of 2014.
We spoke to Jean-Louis who said, ”
I want to spread the news of my award. Hopefully, my story can inspire other young journalists, as well as the Haitian community, because I had to overcome a lot of challenges to become an award-winning print journalist at 26.”
