Dianne Elizabeth Osis, owner of SPJ Publishing, Springfield, announced the sale of Joplin Tri-State Business Journal as part of her keynote address at the Missouri College Media Association awards banquet April 20 at Missouri Southern.

Osis said the paper has been purchased by Joplin businessman Larry Warren, and she said she believes it is important for the paper to have local ownership.

She told students from 15 schools she originally wanted to sell JTSB to a Joplin publisher, but realized it made sense for a business leader to own the business journal.

She said she anticipates great things for the journal, including more interships for journalism students.

 In addition to the awards banquet, students attending the day-long MCMA conference particiapted in workshops and breakout sessions led by media professionals, according to Jordan Larimore, Southern senior and president of MCMA.

“Since this is a state conference, we tried to have relatively local people lead sessions, so that maybe the students will know exactly who’s talking to them and will have some sort of knowledge of their qualifications,” he said.

Chad Hanna, a freelance video production expert who has worked for ESPN, presented on his production work at the Rose Bowl.

Alexandra Nicolas, an alumna of Missouri Southern  who now works for The Joplin Globe, presented a session on multimedia journalism. She also served as a judge for one of several contests.

Each school could enter 26 categories, including topics like in-depth news reporting, column writing, page design and sports photography.

In addition, members compete for Journalist of the Year, Photojournalist of the Year and Adviser of the Year.

Megan Gates, editor-in-chief of The Standard at Missouri State, won Journalist of the Year. The Standard also took home the biggest award of the night, Best in State.

The Chart took home 23 awards including four first-place awards: best website, regular column, news photography and photo page. The paper also received third place in best overall paper in the state.

Individual awards went to Gabi Markovich, Nathan Mills, Willie Brown, Zech Wheeler, Larimore and Joshua Boley.

Larimore said the conference was a success.

“I was elected president of the group at last year’s conference in St. Joseph,” he said.

“Traditionally, the school of the MCMA president hosts the conference, and while we were nervous and cagey at first, it was a lot of fun and we think we did a good job.”.

At the MCMA business meeting this year, Emily Battmer from Truman State University was elected president for next year, meaning Kirksville will host the 2014 conference.

MCMA members come from all Missouri colleges, universities and community colleges. The organization is the college branch of the Missouri Press Association.