It’s official. Derrick Miller is the Oklahoma newspaper adviser of the year, as named by Oklahoma Scholastic Media.
Miller, who is the journalism teacher at the Duncan Middle School, received the recognition March 26, during the 109th annual Spring Oklahoma Scholastic Media Day. The Demon Direct and its staff also received recognitions.
This year, Spring Media Day was held at the Paycom Center. The event linked the student journalists with professional journalists, where students learned about sports reporting, public relations, broadcast journalism and more.
“Media Day is a statewide conference which also serves as our state competition for newspaper,” Miller said. “It usually takes place at University of Oklahoma, however this year because of a partnership between OSM and Oklahoma City Thunder, it was moved to the Paycom Center this year.”
Miller, who is the adviser for both the Demon Direct newspaper and The Flame yearbook, said his favorite part of Media Day is getting to watch the students learn through the event.
This year, the Demon Direct earned Honors through the state competition. Previously, the Demon Direct received Honor in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. The Demon Direct earned Highest Honors and All Oklahoma in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Miller said he was disappointed in how the Demon Direct placed this year, but he said the staff will take the judge’s comments to find ways to continue to improve.
Miller, who has been the DMS journalism teacher for 10 years, took 12 newspaper and yearbook students to Spring Media Day.
Malachi Daniel DeGreef, one of the editors-in-chief for the Demon Direct, said he was excited to see the Demon Direct receive several individual awards. This was the first time individual awards were applied for.
DeGreef’s favorite part of the event was when Miller got the Advisor of the Year award because DeGreef said Miller deserved the award.
Peng Zhang, the yearbook editor-in-chief, said he was proud of the Demon Direct staff for its performance
“Hard work will pay off,” Zhang said.
He said his favorite parts were getting to see the stadium and getting to cheer for his journalism peers as they received their awards.
