Eight journalism students from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette won a total of nine awards at the Southeast Journalism Conference annual convention in Hammond this weekend.
Diane Pantaleo, a senior from Lafayette, placed seventh in the Best in the South annual competition in the Best News Reporter Category. She also won first place in the news rewrite category in the on-site competition at the convention.
Other on-site winners were: Nick Fontenot, junior from Lafayette, first place in sportswriting; Amanda Burleigh, senior from New Roads, second place in feature writing; Zane Hill, a junior from Kent, Ohio, second place in current events; Blair Bordelon, a junior from Harvey, second place in journalism essay writing; Nicole Rogers, senior from Mandeville, third place in news reporting; Alison Moon, junior from Scott, honorable mention in photography; and Lexie Iskander, senior from Lafayette, honorable mention in editorial writing.
Twenty-two schools from eight states attended the convention, 18 of which participated in the on-site competition. Using the point system, UL Lafayette placed second overall in the on-site competition, behind the University of West Florida.
Fifteen UL Lafayette students attended the convention with the faculty delegate, Robert Buckman. Moon, editor of The Vermilion, the UL Lafayette student newspaper, is an English major; Iskander is a general studies major; the others are journalism majors.