Rickerson wins Georgia College Press Association awards

Staff report

Augusta University’s Chris Rickerson won a pair of the Georgia Collegiate Press Association Better Newspaper Awards, it was announced in Athens on Friday, April 7.

Rickerson, who graduated with a B.A. in communication in December and served as sports editor of the Bell Ringer in 2022, won GCPA awards for sports writing and photography. He won the GCPA Better Newspaper Award for best sports photograph in the large newspaper category for his work at the NCAA Division II men’s basketball Elite Eight in Evansville, Ind., in March 2022. He also won best sports story for his article about the retirement of long-time AU Athletic Director Clint Bryant.

Rickerson was competing against students from larger universities, including the University of Georgia.

“It’s an honor to be recognized and awarded by GCPA,” Rickerson said. “I couldn’t have done it without my professors—Dr. (David) Bulla, Professor (Rachel) Balducci, Dr. (Debbie) van Tuyll and (sports photography professor) Dylan Wilson, and many other classmates and professors.”

Bulla was happy to see Rickerson win the awards.

“Chris is an outstanding young sports reporter,” said Bulla, chair of AU’s Department of Communication. “He never said ‘no’ to any assignment, and he was lucky that AU men’s basketball Coach Dip Metress was willing to take him to the national championship tournament. Chris also did himself a big favor and immersed himself in sports photography in Professor Wilson’s class last spring. This served him well in Evansville and then again in the fall covering high school football.”

Rickerson, who covered sports for The Augusta Press last fall, also has been working for CBS Sports during The Masters. He joins a growing list of AU graduates who working in the sports communication sector of the economy, including Tyler Strong for the PGA Tour, Leeroy Francis Jr. for Warner in Atlanta and Will Cheney as sports writer for the Augusta Chronicle.

The awards ceremony was held at the University of Georgia’s Russell Library.