UTM’s student newspaper, The Pacer, and college radio station, WUTM 90.3 FM “The Hawk,” continued their tradition of bringing home awards from the annual Southeast Journalism Conference (SEJC) convention, held this year at Georgia State University in the heart of downtown Atlanta.
WUTM, for the fourth time in its history, placed first as the Best College Radio Station in the Southeast in the annual “Best of the South” competition. The Pacer tied for second in Best College Website, the third time the paper has been recognized for its online work, and also broke into the Top 10 again for Best College Newspaper.
WUTM faculty adviser Dr. Richard Robinson and staff members from both media outlets attended the 29th annual convention, held Feb. 26-28. The students — Ashleigh Burton, Blake Stevens and Toshya Leonard from WUTM, and Chance Farmer, Lyndsey Hayslett, Justin Glover and Sheila Scott from The Pacer — participated in on-site competitions in Atlanta, with categories ranging from News Anchoring and Radio News Reporting to Public Relations and Feature Writing.
In addition to the on-site competitions, students were invited to attend panels on subjects that journalists would find important, such as the Ebola outbreak and the Ferguson, Missouri, riots. These panels were held by leading members in the field of journalism, such as Caleb Hennerman, documentary producer for CNN, and Ralitsa Vassileva, CNN news anchor and correspondent of over 20 years.
“As always, I am incredibly proud of our students’ accomplishments,” said Tomi Parrish, UTM’s faculty delegate to SEJC and Pacer faculty adviser. “The awards aren’t why we’re here, doing what we do to cover stories every day and serve the students of UTM, but they’re a wonderful recognition of the hard work of both staffs.”
The Pacer awards are:
- Best College Newspaper, ranked eighth (tie)
- Best College Website, ranked second (tie)
- Best College Magazine, ranked eighth
- Best News-Editorial Artist/Illustrator – Joey Plunk, ranked second
- Best Feature Writer – Sheila Scott, ranked third (tie)
- Best Newspaper Page Layout Designer – Ashley Marshall, ranked ninth
WUTM awards are:
- Best College Radio Station, ranked first
- Best College Audio News Program, ranked second
- Best Radio News Feature Reporter – Sydney LaFreniere, ranked fifth
- Best Radio Hard News Reporter – Tori Seng, ranked second
- Best Radio Journalist – Blake Stevens, ranked sixth
In the on-site competition, Ashleigh Burton placed first in Radio News Reporting and Blake Stevens placed second in TV Anchoring. Overall, UTM tied for eighth in On-site Championship Team.
SEJC is composed of about 40 schools from seven Southeastern states. UTM was host to the annual convention in February 2012, and has been an active member of SEJC since 2001. The 2016 convention will be held at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee.
Featured photo: Representatives from UTM attended the Southeast Journalism Conference convention Feb. 26-28 at Georgia State University in Atlanta. From left: Ashleigh Burton, Dr. Richard Robinson, Toshya Leonard, Chance Farmer, Justin Glover, Lyndsey Hayslett, Blake Stevens.
Photo credit: Chance Farmer
