University of Louisiana at Lafayette students earned six Mark of Excellence Awards, including four first-place wins, at the Society of Professional Journalists regional conference Saturday.
The collegiate competition was for schools in Region 12, which encompasses Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Awards were for calendar year 2013. School divisions are based on student enrollment; UL Lafayette competed against other schools with more than 10,000 students.
First-place winners are entered into SPJ’s national Mark of Excellence competition. National winners will be announced May 6.
“Louisiana Focus,” a student-produced news and feature radio program, was named best all-around radio newscast. It airs on Mondays on KRVS-FM, the NPR affiliate on UL Lafayette’s campus.
Lanie Lee Cook, a December 2013 journalism graduate from Broussard, La., and Seth Dickerson, a junior journalism major from Crowley, La., finished first for in-depth reporting. They were cited for an article they wrote for The Vermilion, UL Lafayette’s weekly student newspaper, entitlted “Financial Gridlock Leaves Little Room for Campus-wide Improvements.” Cook was also a finalist in the feature writing category for an article about a local skateboarding team that was published in The Vermilion.
Jeanne Robicheaux earned the top award in the radio in-depth reporting category for “Julia’s Story.” She is a senior broadcast major from Houma, La. Carly Viator, a senior broadcast major from New Iberia, La., took first place in the best radio feature category for “Pet Therapy.” Both reports aired on “Louisiana Focus.”
Annie Ourso was a finalist in the non-fiction magazine category for “Louisiana Reality TV,” which was published in Acadiana Profile magazine. She is a senior journalism major from Baton Rouge, La.
The regional conference was held at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.