Congratulations to the University of Mississippi students who won 13 awards for their 2018 work in the annual Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence contest.
The Region 12 conference and awards luncheon was Saturday, March 30, at Lipscomb University in Nashville. Region 12 includes four states – Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Arkansas.
Six UM student journalists – Grant McLaughlin, Carter Diggs, Grace Marion, Brooke McNabb, Sarah Liese, and Gracie Snyder – attended the conference that included workshops with many high achieving area journalists and networking opportunities.
Regional first-place winners automatically are entered into the national contest, competing against student winners in the other 11 regions.
In the newspaper and art/graphics/photo categories, SPJ separates entries from large schools and small schools, and our students compete in the categories for large universities.
Our Mark of Excellence first-place winners are:
The Daily Mississippian, best all-around daily newspaper
NewsWatch Ole Miss, best television newscast
Ariel Cobbert, breaking news photography (Honoring King’s legacy, Martin Luther King assassination 50th anniversary march)
Madison Scarpino, television breaking news (Ole Miss community reacts to controversial Facebook post)
Lasherica Thornton, breaking news reporting (article from her internship in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania)
Victoria Hosey, radio news reporting (Meek social media post forum)
Hurricane Harvey reporting team (Italiana Anderson, Lana Ferguson, Victoria Hosey, Abbie McIntosh, MacKenzie Ross), best use of multimedia
SPJ picks one winner and two finalists in each category. Our finalists are:
Circle & Square staff, student magazine
The Daily Mississippian, breaking news reporting (Chancellor, campus leaders condemn post made by Ole Miss alumnus)
Victoria Hosey, radio feature (Michael Rish, hurricane survivor)
Billy Schuerman, general news photography (James Meredith photo from black alumni weekend)
Gracie Snyder, Sarah Liese, Lauren Conley, online in-depth reporting (African American students, faculty aim to make UM more inclusive)
Victoria Hosey, Abbie McIntosh, Madison Scarpino, online news reporting (Ole Miss student copies with the Hurricane Michael destruction of her hometown)
If you would like to become a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, contact UM SPJ Chapter President Grace Marion at spjumchapter@gmail.com.
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