Charles Milam rests while collecting valuables from his destroyed home in Tupelo,
Tuesday, April 29, 2014. This photo by DM Photo Editor Cady Herring won first place
for news photography in the SPJ contest.
In the 2014 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Region 12 competition, UM students won 14 individual awards. The seven first-place winners will now move on to a national competition in which 11 other regions will be competing.
The Daily Mississippian was named best daily student newspaper in the 2014 Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Region 12 competition. University of Mississippi students also won 14 individual awards.
Region 12 includes universities in Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Louisiana.
First-place winners are Ian Cowart for television breaking news reporting, Adam Ganucheau for general news reporting, Thomas Graning for sports photography, Cady Herring for general news photography, Ji Joon Hoo for online feature reporting, Jessi Hota for online in-depth reporting, and Sudu Upadhyay for televison feature reporting.
Will Norton, dean of the Meek School of Journalism and New Media, said the many awards won by the Student Media Center in recent years reflect the students’ hard work and commitment, and the mentoring they receive.
“You can feel the drive for excellent journalism,” Norton said.
SPJ competitions have categories for small and large colleges. The University of Mississippi competes against other students at other large universities. One winner and up to two finalists are selected for each category. The finalists are Nicole Bounds for online in-depth reporting, Ian Cleary for editorial cartoonist, Emily Guess for in-depth reporting, Sierra Mannie for general column writing, Dylan Rubino for sports writing, Lacey Russell for feature writing, and Natalie Wood and Wiley Anderson for television general news reporting.
The awards were announced on Saturday at the Region 12 conference at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
All first-place winners will advance to compete against 11 other regions in the national awards.The national awards will be announced in the SPJ Excellence in Journalism conference in September in Orlando.
