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February 28, 2013

ULM Hawkeye staff members bring home big awards

Staff members from the University of Louisiana at Monroe’s student newspaper, The Hawkeye, competed at the Southeastern Journalism Conference at Union University in Jackson, Tenn. Feb. 21-23.

The Hawkeye staff topped their five award effort at the same conference last year, bringing in a total of six awards, including three first place honors.

ULM competed against schools from universities across the South, including the University of Alabama, Auburn University, the University of Tennessee and the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

“These awards acknowledge the staffs' tremendous dedication and passion for what they do,” said Christopher Mapp, director of student publications.

“For the second year in a row, they proved their hard work allows them to compete with the best schools in the Southeast—and win. As a result, ULM’s student media has established itself as one of the finest in the region. The students should be proud of their achievements, and the university should share in their pride.”

In what is considered the most competitive and coveted category for an individual student, Cole Avery, won second place in the “Journalist of the Year” category, coming in second to a student the from University of Alabama. Avery received $500 for his second place finish.

“To have Cole finish runner-up is a real testament to his maturity and abilities. His achievement speaks highly both of his personal character and the quality of ULM’s journalism program,” Mapp said. 

Emma Herrock, current editor in chief of the Hawkeye, sees the competition results as proof of the staff’s dedication.

She said, “These awards show that our paper is serious about covering news that affects our campus and our readers, and we want to continue to strive to be the best.”

According to the SEJC website, the SEJC is an organization comprised of more than 45 member colleges and universities in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

SEJC was created to encourage greater interest in student journalism and to form closer ties among journalism schools in the southeast United States.

Award winners are as follows:
Kelsey Hargrove, from Monroe won first place for Best Editorial Cartoon

Emma Herrock, from Monroe won first place for Best Arts and Entertainment Writing

Srdjan Marjanovic, from Belgrade, Serbia won first place for Best Press Photography

Cole Avery, from Jonesboro won second place for Journalist of the Year

DeRon Talley, from Folsom won third place in Best Sports Journalist

Lane Davis, from Ringgold won third place in Best Advertising

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