Meek School Students Named SEJC champions

photo by Cady Herring, Daily Mississippian Photo Editor

University of Mississippi students won 26 awards in the annual Southeast Journalism Conference, and for the fourth time in five years, they were honored as the first-place Onsite Championship Team.

This year’s conference was hosted by Georgia State University from Feb. 26-28 in Atlanta. Two separate awards ceremonies were held: Best of the South, which honors student work published or broadcast from November 2013 through November 2014, and onsite competitions where students compete on deadline in 17 different categories.

Sudu Upadhyay and Cady Herring – both sophomores – each won two first-place awards. Herring, who is Daily Mississippian Photo Editor, was named Best Press Photographer in the Best of the South contest, and won first place in the onsite news photography contest. Upadhyay, who is NewsWatch Station Manager, was named Best Television Journalist in Best of the South contest, and he and senior NewsWatch anchor Gabriel Austin won first place in the onsite Television Reporting team category.

Other first-place winners were:

• Ellen Whitaker, first place in the onsite page layout competition. Whitaker is a DM Design Editor.
• Sierra Mannie, first place in the onsite op-ed writing competition. Mannie is DM Opinion Editor. Read the column at theDMonline.com.
• Adam Ganucheau, first place for Best Special Event Reporer/Editor in Best of the South. Ganucheau broke the news in February 2014 that the James Meredith statute on campus was found draped with a noose and a flag with Confederate symbols, and the award was for his news coverage as well as editorials and enterprise, including an interview with James Meredith in Jackson. This is the second year in a row that Ganucheau won first place in this category. Ganucheau is former Daily Mississippian Editor-in-Chief. He graduated last May, and is working as a reporter for AL.com in Birmingham.

Other students who won awards were:

• Clara Turnage, second place for Best Feature Writer in Best of the South. Turnage is DM Lifestyles Editor.
• Sarah Parrish, second place in the copy editing onsite competition. Parrish is DM Managing Editor.
• Shawna Mackenzie Hicks, second place in the onsite media ethics competition. Hicks is DM Copy Chief.
• Payton Green, second place in the onsite current events competition. Green is NewsWatch News Director.
• Miriam Creswell, second place for Best Journalism Research Paper. Her paper was titled “The Disappearance of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner and the Media’s Response,” and she wrote it for “The Press and The Changing South” class taught by Dr. Kathleen Wickham. Creswell, former NewsWatch Station Manager, graduated last May, and is working as a producer at WAAY-TV in Huntsville.
• Lacey Russell, third place for Best News Writer in Best of the South, and honorable mention in the onsite feature writing competition. Russell is DM Editor-in-Chief.
• Dylan Rubino, third place for Best Sports Writer in Best of the South. Rubino is DM Sports Editor.
• Allison Moore, third place for Best Newspaper Page Layout Designer in Best of the South. Moore is a DM Design Editor.
• Ian Cleary, fourth place for Best News-Editorial Artist-Illustrator. Cleary is DM cartoonist.
• Gabriel Austin, fourth place for Best TV Hard News Reporter in Best of the South. Austin is a NewsWatch anchor.
• Amy Hornsby, sixth place for Best Advertising Staff Member in Best of the South. Hornsby is Rebel Radio Interim Station Manager.
• Browning Stubbs, sixth place for Best Multimedia Journalist. Stubbs is NewsWatch Sports Director, DM basketball beat writer, and a Rebel Radio sports DJ.
• Kendyl Noon, ninth place for Best TV News Feature Reporter. Noon is a NewsWatch anchor and DM Online Editor.

NewsWatch Ch. 99 won 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, and was the only daily newspaper honored. TheDMonline.com won tenth place as Best College Website.

Best of the South had 523 entries from 33 universities. About 200 students from across the southeast competed in the onsite competitions.

More than 45 universities in seven states are members of SEJC. The 2016 conference will be at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. In 2017, the conference will be here at the University of Mississippi.

Courtesy of Meek School of Journalism and New Media