UA Students Take Honors at Journalism Conference

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — University of Alabama communication students were honored with 36 awards at the 16th annual Southeast Journalism Conference last month in Clarksville, Tenn.

In the conference top award category, The Crimson White (CW), UA’s student newspaper, was honored as the second best all-around newspaper in the Southeast. The CW took home a total of seven first-place awards, five second-place awards and seven third-place awards.

The student newspaper earned awards for the second best entertainment section, third place for the best coverage of the Sept. 11 attacks and honorable mention for the best opinion section.

CW managing editor Dan Murphy of Peekskill, N.Y., received four individual awards for newspaper design, and sports editor Evan Woodbery of Memphis, Tenn., was honored with three awards for writing and design. Other individual winners included metro/state editor Chris Sanders of Smoke Rise, who won three certificates, and editor Luke Connell of Cullman, who also won three awards.

Winners in the areas of television, radio, magazines and advertising included former CW creative services manager Andrew Davis of Birmingham (zip code 35242) who won two awards for ad design, and broadcast student Jeremy King of Alabaster who won four awards for radio-television journalism.

This year’s conference was hosted by Austin Peay State University. UA students who attended the conference participated in on-site competitions and attended sessions led by professional and academic journalists. John Seigenthaler, chair and founder of the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center and founding editorial director of USA Today was the Friday keynote speaker. Wayne Pace, executive vice president and chief financial officer of AOL Time Warner presented Saturday’s keynote address.

In addition to Connell, Murphy, Sanders and Woodbery, UA students Michael Green of Hoover, Megan Lavey of Montgomery, Tom Neil of Hoover, Madelyn Troyanek of Decatur, and Stacy Whitlow of Metairie, La., attended the event; Paul Isom, director of the Office of Student Media, attended as UA’s faculty delegate.

A complete list of UA winners includes the following:

The Crimson White:

• Second Place, Best All-Around Newspaper
• Second Place, Best Entertainment Section
• Honorable Mention, Best Opinion Section
• Third Place, Best Special Event Coverage for Sept. 11 attacks
• Third Place, Overall On-site Competition

The Crimson White staff:

• First Place, Best Open Journalism In-Depth Story: Luke Connell and Joseph Bryant of Dothan
• First Place, Best Computer-Generated Feature Artwork: Dan Murphy
• First Place, Best Newspaper Sports Page Layout: Evan Woodbery
• First Place, Best Sports Game Story: Evan Woodbery
• First Place, Best Artwork in a Newspaper Ad: Andrew Davis
• Second Place, Best Newspaper Editorial Cartoon: Andy Floyd of Alabaster
• Second Place, Best Sports News Story: Evan Woodbery
• Second Place, Best Small Newspaper Ad: Betsy Kervin of Andalusia
• Third Place, Best Newspaper Page One Layout: Dan Murphy
• Third Place, Best Newspaper Inside Page Layout: Dan Murphy
• Third Place, Best Newspaper Feature Page Layout: Nick Parsons of Bessemer
• Third Place, Best Spot News Reporting: Chris Sanders
• Third Place, Best Opinion Column: Luke Connell
• Third Place, Best Sports Game Photograph: Tom Neil of Hoover
• Honorable Mention, Best Computer-Generated Artwork: Nick Parsons
• Honorable Mention, Best In-Depth or Investigative Story: Chris Sanders
• Honorable Mention, Best Sports Feature Story: Micah Lewter of Morgan City

CW staff members also competed in on-site categories in which they covered various topics on deadline; winners included:

• First Place, On-Site Spot News: Chris Sanders
• First Place, On-Site Feature Writing: Stacy Whitlow
• First Place, On-Site Practicing Ethical Journalism: Michael Green and Luke Connell
• Second Place, On-Site Page-one Layout: Dan Murphy
• Third Place, On-Site Crisis Coverage Sidebar: Megan Lavey
• Third Place, Overall On-Site Competition: The Crimson White
• Honorable Mention, On-Site Photography: Madelyn Troyanek

Broadcast students winning awards included:

• First Place, Best Radio News Story: Jeremy King
• First Place, Best Radio Newscast: Jeremy King
• First Place, Best TV Newscast: Jeremy King
• Second Place, Best Radio Newscast: Jessica Smith of Gordo
• Second Place, Best Radio Sports Story: Michael Gillespie of Greenmount, Md.
• Second Place, Best TV News Story: Jeremy King
• Second Place, Best Radio News Story: Brandi Srader of Donithan, Miss.
• Third Place, Best Magazine Advertisement: Andrew Davis