PHOTO ILLUSTRATION: CADY HERRING
University of Mississippi students won 26 awards in the annual Southeast Journalism Conference, and for the fourth time in five years, they were awarded first in the Onsite Championship Team category.
The conference, hosted by Georgia State University, began last Thursday and ended Saturday in Atlanta, Georgia. Two separate awards ceremonies were held: Best of the South, which honored student work published or broadcast from November 2013 through November 2014, and onsite competitions where students competed on deadline in 17 different categories.
Cady Herring and Sudu Upadhyay each won two first-place awards.
Herring, photo editor of The Daily Mississippian, was named Best Press Photographer in the Best of the South contest.
Prior to the conference, each student was notified if he or she had placed in the Best of the South competition. Somehow, Herring’s name was left off the list, and she was under the impression that she would not be receiving an award.
“When they were announcing Best Press Photographer, I wasn’t even looking at the screen,” Herring said. “When I heard them call my name for first place, my jaw dropped. I was so surprised. This award means so much to me because it’s proof that all of the work I’ve done has really paid off.”
Herring also won first place in the onsite news photography competition.
Upadhyay, who is the NewsWatch station manager, was named Best Television Journalist in Best of the South competition.
“I was beyond thrilled,” Upadhyay said. “I finished second last year, and I promised myself that I would work hard enough to earn first. I guess the judges liked my work.”
He and NewsWatch anchor Gabriel Austin also won first place in the onsite Television Reporting team category.
In the Best of the South competition there were 523 entries from 33 universities.
Adam Ganucheau, former DM editor-in-chief, won first place in the category, Best Special Event Reporter/Editor.
Second place awards were won by Miriam Cresswell, former NewsWatch station manger, for Best Journalism Research Paper and Clara Turnage, DM lifestyles editor, for Best Feature Writer.
Students who won third-place awards were Allison Moore, DM design editor, for Best Newspaper Page Layout Designer; Dylan Rubino, DM sports editor, for Best Sports Writer and Lacey Russell, DM editor-in-chief, for Best News Writer.
Gabriel Austin, NewsWatch anchor, won fourth place for Best TV Hard News Reporter, and Ian Cleary, the DM cartoonist, won fourth place for Best News-Editorial Artist-Illustrator.
Amy Hornsby, Rebel Radio interim station manager, was awarded sixth place for Best Advertising Staff Member, and Browning Stubbs, NewsWatch sports director, DM basketball beat writer and Rebel Radio sports DJ, claimed sixth for Best Multimedia Journalist.
Kendyl Noon, NewsWatch anchor and DM online editor, won ninth place for Best TV News Feature Reporter.
NewsWatch Channel 99 was awarded third place for Best College Video News Program and fourth place for Best College TV Station. The Daily Mississippian won sixth place for Best College Newspaper, placing higher than any other college newspaper in Mississippi, and TheDMonline.com was awarded tenth for Best College Website.
Close to 200 students from colleges across the Southeast competed in the onsite competitions.
In addition to Herring and Upadhyay, other first place onsite winners include Sierra Mannie, DM opinion editor, who won the op-ed writing competition, and Ellen Whitaker, DM design editior, who claimed first in the page layout competition.
Second place awards went to Payton Green, NewsWatch news director, in the onsite current events competition, Mackenzie Hicks, DM copy chief, in the onsite media ethics competition and Sarah Parrish, DM managing editor, in the onsite copy editing competition.
Russell received honorable mention in the onsite feature writing competition.
