University of Mississippi students won the top prize in the onsite competitions last weekend at the Southeast Journalism Conference in Hattiesburg.
SEJC is a journalism organization with more than 30 member universities and colleges in seven states. SEJC sponsors two major contests each year: The onsite competitions, and the Best of the South awards for best student work published/broadcast during the past year.
University of Mississippi students won 17 total awards in the Best of the South contest, awarded during a banquet Friday night. The Best of the South awards included four first-place awards, four second-place awards, and four third-place awards. In some Best of the South writing categories, there are more than 40 entries, and judges can award up to 10th place in those competitive categories.
Here are details about what our students won.
Online competition: 15 categories. Students cover an assignment on deadline during the conference, competing against students at the conference from other universities.
University of Mississippi: 1st place Grand Champions for the Onsite Competition, based on total points for the overall contest. UM students won a total of 7 awards in the onsite contests.
1st places:
Kenneth Niemeyer, News Writing
Madison Scarpino, TV Anchoring
2nd places:
Griffin Neal, Feature Writing
Sarah Biedermann, Karsyn King, Hannah Williamson, Public Relations team
3rd places:
Daniel Payne, Design/Page Layout
Matthew Hendley and Lydazja Turner, TV News Reporting
Will Stribling, Radio News Reporting
Best of the South – Entries must have published Nov. 15, 2018, through Nov. 14, 2019. Each entry includes up to three examples of the student’s work.
University of Mississippi students won a total of 17 awards:
1st places:
Griffin Neal, Best Feature Writer
Will Stribling, Best Radio Journalist
Georgia Huddleston, Best Advertising Staff Member (advertising design)
Devna Bose, Best Multimedia Journalist, for her project on Puerto Rico emotional health after Hurricane Maria (category based on 3 formats used by a student to cover a single story)
2nd places:
Kenneth Niemeyer, Best Special Event Reporter
Skye Spiehler, Best TV Journalist
Hayden Wiggs, Best Radio Feature Reporter<
Rebel Radio, Best Radio Station
3rd places:
Daniel Payne, Best News Writer
Camryn Sidley, Best TV News Reporter
Lasherica Thornton, Best Journalism Research Paper
Rebel Radio, Best Audio Newscast
4th place: Gita Viswanathan and Jesus Escobedo, Best Advertising Staff Member (broadcast commercial)
5th place: Billy Schuerman, Best Press Photographer
7th place: Katie Dames, Best Opinion/Editorial Writer
8th place: Josh Clayton, Best Sports Writer
10th place: Daniel Payne, College Journalist of the Year
The University of Southern Mississippi hosted this year’s conference from Feb. 13-15. USM reported that 275 students and advisers registered for the conference, and 180 students participated in the 15 onsite competition.
Twelve students and Assistant Dean/Student Media Pat Thompson attended the conference.
