The Society of Professional Journalists Region 2 gathering featured the Mark of Excellence Awards results, of which several Elon students were winners.
¸£ÀûÑÇÖÞ¹ú²ú¾«Æ·’s School of Communications and its student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists hosted the SPJ Region 2 conference April 7-8 in Dwight C. Schar Hall. The conference featured an opening panel titled “Fake News, Media Literacy & Fact Checking,” several breakout sessions focused on a wide array of journalism topics, and a keynote address from Assistant Professor of Communications Ahmed Fadaam.
Below is the full list of Elon winners and finalists:
- “Elon Local News” was named the regional winner for Best All-Around Student Newscast. The winning show was broadcast , and produced by Erik Webb ’19, Elizabeth Bilka ’18, Daniel MacLaury ’17 and Ashley Bohle ’17. The finalist was an “ELN Morning” show aired , and produced by Audrey Engelman ’17 and MacLaury.
- Stephanie Hays ’18 was named the regional winner for Photo Illustration (Small School Division—defined as 9,999 students or fewer) for
- Diego Pineda ’19 was named the regional winner for General News Photography (Small) for
- Alex Simon ’17 and Tommy Hamzik ’17 were named the regional winners for General News Reporting (Small) for
- Jane Seidel ’17 was named the regional winner for General Column Writing (Small) for three of her columns, and
- Meredith Stutz ’16 and Michael Bodley ’16 were named the regional winners for Online Feature Reporting for
- Hali Tauxe was named the regional winner for Feature Photography (Small) for
- Simon was named the regional winner and a regional finalist for Sports Writing (Small) for and a finalist for
- Andrew Feather ’17 was named the regional winner for Sports Photography (Small) for a during a playoff game.
- Cassidy Levy ’17 was named a regional finalist for General Column Writing (Small) for three of her columns, and
- Paige Pauroso ’17, Feather, Kailey Tracy ’17 and Engelman were named regional finalists for Television Breaking News Reporting for .
- Pauroso was named a regional finalist for Television General News Reporting for .
- AJ Mandell ’20 was named a regional finalist for Feature Photography (Small) for
- Jack Hartmann ’19 was named a regional finalist for Feature Photography (Small) for
- Jordan Spritzer ’16 was named a regional finalist for Sports Writing (Small) for
- Emmanuel Morgan ’19 was named a regional finalist for In-Depth Reporting (Small) for
- Simon was named a regional finalist for Sports Column Writing for three of his columns, and
This year’s conference was organized by Colin Donohue, director of student media and instructor in the School of Communications, and Anthony Hatcher, associate professor of communications. Students Jackie Pascale ’18, Hamzik, Pauroso, Simon, Tracy, Hays, Rachel Ellis ’19 and Avik Bhargave ’19 also helped with conference planning. (.)
In addition to Fadaam’s keynote address, Hatcher moderated the opening panel, Communications Dean Paul Parsons offered the official Elon welcome, and Jonathan Jones, instructor in communications and director of the North Carolina Open Government Coalition, co-led a session titled “Requesting Public Records: Tips and Issues.”
This is the second time the SPJ Region 2 conference has come to Elon. The first time was in 2012, when Elon also hosted.
ABOUT THE SPJ MARK OF EXCELLENCE AWARDS
SPJ Region 2 Mark of Excellence Awards are given in newspaper, TV, radio and online categories. Awards are given only to those who place in the top three in the region. Regional winners move on to the national competition, at which time they will compete with 11 other first-place regional winners.
Last year, SPJ named alumnus Al Drago ’15 the national winner in the (Small) and competitions (Small). Also earning national wins were Simon for and Leena Dahal ’17 for .