By Alvaro Ayala

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – APRIL 25, 2025 – Twenty-nine members of UTRGV Student Media competed against nearly 40 colleges and universities recently to win – for the third consecutive year and the fourth time in program history – the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association’s Director’s Cup.

The TIPA convention held April 10–12 in San Marcos, hosts a series of live journalism and communication contests for student media across Texas. The Director’s Cup represents excellence in student media and is awarded to the school with the highest overall competition score at the end of the contests.

This marks UTRGV’s third consecutive win in this student journalism competition. Each member – from The Rider, KVAQ-TV, Pulse Magazine and Vaquero Radio – participated at least once within the 31 contest categories, including print news writing, TV announcing, news photography and newspaper design.  

All contests are held over the two days of the conference. The school with the highest tally of points is awarded the Director’s Cup. This year, UTRGV earned 47 points, topping Texas State University with 36 points and Texas A&M with 32 points, to take home the top prize.

UTRGV student media has a history of high performance in TIPA competitions:

• The first Director’s Cup was in 2019, with 58 awards.
• The second Director’s Cup was in 2023 with 48 awards.
• The third was in 2024 with 52 awards.
• The fourth came this year, again with 52 awards.

GOING FOR THE THREE-PEAT

Student media adviser Jesus Sanchez said this year’s win was extra special, as it marked the first time they had competed without their former student media director, Azenett Cornejo, who retired recently.

However, the UTRGV contingent was still able to celebrate their mentor, as Cornejo was inducted into the 2025 TIPA Hall of Fame during the convention.

“It was a special sight to see her being inducted and to be there with her over the weekend,” Sanchez said. “This is the most special Director’s Cup we’ve won so far, especially because of the timing. Our students were really excited to honor her legacy.”

Sanchez said motivation to defend the Director’s Cup again has been strong since last year’s TIPA competition.

Veteran student media members like senior English Literature major Rebeca Salinas and sophomore Theater major Dathan Treviño entered the competition already determined to have an impact on the team.

Salinas, editor-in-chief of The Rider newspaper, said this year’s win was especially meaningful because she is set to graduate in May, and this was to be her final TIPA experience.

“It’s such an honor to spend my last TIPA with such a talented team, people passionate about journalism,” she said. “This win proves that our student media members put in the hard work and determination to learn, grow and continue this craft … and I've been able to help encourage them to step out of their comfort zones and try new things in journalism.”

For Treviño, assistant news director for KVAQ-TV, his second TIPA experience helped solidify his path as a storyteller. 

“I was nervous going into TIPA, but by the end of the experience I felt like I had learned a lot and had so much fun with my peers,” he said.

In his first year attending TIPA as a freshman, Treviño was a KVAQ reporter, and moved up the ranks after several members from the previous year graduated, giving him the confidence he needed in his leadership role over the next few years.

“To know we are doing the best we can to manage the station and place first is extremely validating,” he said. “I want to start working twice as hard with my crew so we can secure another win next year and go four in a row!”  

Story edited by Marci Caltabiano-Ponce.