Ole Miss students brought home six first-place wins and 14 awards in total at the Society of Professional Journalists Region 12 competition Saturday in Knoxville, Tennessee.
The Daily Mississippian won first place for best daily newspaper and was a finalist for best affiliated website. The staff of The Daily Mississippian also placed in the online news reporting category for its coverage of the Occupy the Lyceum protest in fall 2016.
NewsWatch Ole Miss won the best television newscast competition.
Region 12 includes universities from Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and Louisiana. First-place winners will move on to compete against winners in the other 11 regions, and national awards are expected to be announced in May.
“This weekend’s awards added to what has been a spectacular year for our student journalists,” Patricia Thompson, Meek School assistant dean for student media, said. “Our students have been honored so often in the past few weeks it has been hard to keep track. The awards cover a wide range of content – news, features, sports, visuals, television, radio, multimedia. They work many hours each week to provide information for the campus and community, and they are getting great experience that has helped them land great jobs and internships.”
Photography editor Ariel Cobbert won the breaking news photography competition with her coverage of the Occupy the Ole Miss Lyceum protest in fall 2016.
Managing editor Lana Ferguson and editor-in-chief Clara Turnage pose for a photo Saturday with awards from the Society of Professional Journalists Region 12 conference in Knoxville, Tennessee. The university brought home 14 awards in total, including several first-place wins. (Photo courtesy: Lana Ferguson)
Editor-in-chief Clara Turnage won the general news reporting competition for her article “Confronting the Trust Deficit,” which was published in spring 2016. Turnage was also the winner and a finalist in the feature writing competition for a an article written during an internship in summer 2016 and a profile published in fall 2016.
Managing editor Lana Ferguson was a finalist in the non-fiction magazine article category, “Taking Care of Their Own,” which was published in Mississippi Miracle. The Meek School of Journalism and New Media was a finalist in the student magazine category for that publication.
Sports editor Brian Scott Rippee was a finalist in the sports column writing category for his article “Kelly leaves a legacy as one of the best.”
Illustrator Jake Thrasher was a finalist in the editorial cartoon competition for three of his cartoons published in 2016.
“I’m incredibly proud of the staff,” Turnage said. “They’ve all worked really hard this year and deserve these awards and more, in my opinion. I’ve been so honored to work with so many talented people, and even though no one works here just to get awards, it’s nice to have something to show for the long nights and early mornings.”
Former NewsWatch Station Manager Payton Green and Lauren Layton won the television breaking news reporting competition.Green was also a finalist in online feature reporting for his “Coming Out in the Christian South.”
