INDReporter

UL journalists win awards

by Walter Pierce

Journalism students from UL Lafayette gathered 14 awards over the weekend at the Southeast Journalism Conference including a first-place award for "Louisiana Focus," the student-produced radio program that airs on Mondays on KRVS.

Journalism students from UL Lafayette gathered 14 awards over the weekend at the Southeast Journalism Conference including a first-place award for "Louisiana Focus," the student-produced radio program that airs on Mondays on KRVS. Eight of the awards were in the 2011 Best of the South competition for stories that appeared in the campus newspaper, The Vermilion; the remaining six awards were won at the on-site competition held this year at the University of Tennessee at Martin. The SEJC comprises 42 universities and colleges in eight Southern states with more than 400 contestants competing in the Best of the South.

Riding the accomplishments of "Louisiana Focus," senior broadcast major Alessi Johnson took home the first place award for best radio reporter while senior journalism major Zane Hill took second place in the same category.

Among other winners at Best of the South:

*December 2011 grad Hope Rurik won second place for College Journalist of the Year, sixth place for feature writing and 10th place for newswriting.
*Fellow December 2011 graduate Emily Henagan won eighth place in feature writing. (Both Rurik and Henagan were interns at The Independent.)
*Junior journalism major Elizabeth Rose won sixth place for newswriting.

Taking home awards in the on-site competition were:

*Senior journalism major Nick Fontenot - first place, sportswriting
*Senior journalism major Tiffany Segura - third place, copyediting
*Elizabeth Rose - third place, newswriting
*Zane Hill - third place, feature writing

UL tied for third place in the sweepstakes award in the on-site competition among 26 schools that participated.