Ole Miss Students Honored with SPJ Regional Awards

Student Media Director Patricia Thompson and students Lacey Russell, Thomas Graning and Phillip Waller display the 16 awards won by University of Mississippi students at this year’s regional Society of Professional Journalists conference.
Student Media Director Patricia Thompson and students Lacey Russell, Thomas Graning and Phillip Waller display the 16 awards won by University of Mississippi students at this year’s regional Society of Professional Journalists conference.

University of Mississippi 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 Saturday, April 12, at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville.
Breaking News Photography winning photo by Tom Graning The following caption ran with the photo: Paul Kevin Curtis, left, hugs his attorney Christi McCoy during a press conference in Oxford on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Curtis had been accused of sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama. The charges were dropped Tuesday without prejudice.
Breaking News Photography winning photo by Tom Graning
The following caption ran with the photo: Paul Kevin Curtis, left, hugs his attorney Christi McCoy during a press conference in Oxford on Tuesday, April 23, 2013. Curtis had been accused of sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama. The charges were dropped Tuesday without prejudice.

First-place honors went to the staff of Land of Plenty, the depth report produced in spring 2013, for Best Student Magazine; 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 in Quincy, Ill. All Meek School students compete in categories for large universities with enrollments of more than 10,000. First-place regional winners automatically advance into competition for national SPJ awards. Last year, UM had one national winner and two national finalists.
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. SPJ Region 12 includes Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee.
General News Photography winning photo by Katie Williamson The following caption ran with the photo: Carter Tuck, a student employee for University of Mississippi Campus Recreation, gets covered with colorful powdered dye during the Ole Miss 5K Tie-Dye Dash in Oxford on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013.
General News Photography winning photo by Katie Williamson
The following caption ran with the photo: Carter Tuck, a student employee for University of Mississippi Campus Recreation, gets covered with colorful powdered dye during the Ole Miss 5K Tie-Dye Dash in Oxford on Sunday, Oct. 27, 2013.

Representing the School at the SPJ regional conference were Lacey Russell, DM Editor in Chief for 2014-2015; Phillip Waller, yearbook editor in chief for 2014-2015; Thomas Graning, DM multimedia editor for 2014-2015; and Director of Student Media Patricia Thompson. SPJ workshop panelists and speakers included journalists from National Geographic, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City.
—Meek School of Journalism and New Media