The Daily Mississippian
Ole Miss representatives to the Region 12 Soceity of Professional Journalists conference pose with awards won by UM students Saturday. From left to right are Director of Student Media Pat Thompson, Lacey Russell, Phillip Waller and Thomas Graning.
University of Mississippi journalism students won five first-place awards and 11 finalist awards in the 2013 Region 12 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence contest. The awards ceremony was held Saturday, April 12 at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.
First-place honor for Best Student Magazine went to the staff of “Land of Plenty,” the depth report led by instructor Bill Rose and produced in spring 2013.
Individual first-place awards were presented to Phillip Waller for Non-Fiction Magazine Article for an article in “Land of Plenty”; Thomas Graning for Breaking News Photography for a photograph in The Daily Mississippian; Katie Williamson for General News Photography for a photograph on theDMonline.com; and Jonece Dunigan for General News Reporting for an article from her internship about last summer’s Supreme Court ruling on gay rights and its impact on a couple in Quincy, Ill.
Finalist certificates were awarded to The Daily Mississippian, Adam Ganucheau, Phil McCausland, Ian Cleary, Katie Williamson, Ignacio Murillo, Thomas Graning, David Collier, Tim Abram, Sid Williams and Anna Ellingburg. All of the Meek School students competed in categories for large universities with enrollments over 10,000. Last year, UM had one national winner and two national finalists.
SPJ Region 12 includes Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee. Representing the school at the SPJ regional conference were Lacey Russell, DM editor-in-chief for 2014-15; Phillip Waller, yearbook editor-in-chief for 2014-15; Thomas Graning, DM multimedia editor for 2014-15; and Director of Student Media Patricia Thompson. SPJ workshop panelists and speakers included journalists and recruiters from National Geographic, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City.
First-place regional winners automatically advance to the competition for national SPJ awards. Mark of Excellence judges choose only one national winner and two national finalists in each category. A finalized list of winners will be announced May 7 and presented at the national SPJ conference Sept. 5 in Nashville.
