Cody “CG” Gibson, who has been Sports Editor on the Iron Blade for the past three years, was recently awarded two writing honors through the company that hosts the Iron Blade website, SNO Sites.
The first award was for the article Gibson wrote about Panthers Quarterback Braxton Hughes titled “Hanging Ten on the Football Field”. The second award was for an article written about one of Ferrum College’s bands titled “Orchestra Appalachia Takes Off”.
SNO Sites, a company out of Minnesota whose main function is to host student newspaper websites, periodically awards “Best of SNO” badges to publications and individuals within its system. “We want to recognize excellent work,” the site reads. “You’ve likely put a lot of time and effort, (possibly some blood, sweat and tears — we don’t judge) into your various journalistic explorations, and you deserve to be congratulated!”
Gibson’s “Hanging Ten” story is one of 339 chosen for distinction among 1,988 entries. Out of 308 participating schools, Ferrum is one of the 136 that had an article chosen. Gibson’s second story was one of 508 chosen out of 3108 entries.“I’m extremely proud of ‘CG’ on this,” Iron Blade advisor Dave Campbell said. “I know how much time and effort he put into that story. It’s an in-depth article with many sources. He did an excellent job of compiling all the information into a nice read that threads well throughout.” SNO sites paced a “Best of SNO” badge on the site just above Gibson’s headline and awarded him a certificate.
“It feels pretty cool,” Gibson said. “Since I’ve been here for four years and on the Iron Blade for four years as well, I’ve gotten a feel for and it and have gotten better with each article. To see all the hard work I put into the story pay off, interviewing people, writing it all up, and adding a style within everything and see it come to what it became is pretty cool.” Gibson, a Media and Communication major and Journalism minor, is also a four-year member of the Black Hats. He is also currently interning with the Athletic Department, writing up contests for its website.
