UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Society of Professional Journalists

Beacon Staffers Off To Nationals

ellis copyThe Society of Professional Journalists has named its 2013 Mark of Excellence Awards winners from Region 10, which encompasses Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. The awards honor the best of collegiate journalism from each calendar year. Honorees received award certificates the weekend of May 2 at the Region 10 Spring Conference in Portland.

Olivia Alsept-Ellis (pictured) and Kelsey Thomas of The Beacon won first place in General News Reporting (Small) for their story, “Cyber confessions become cyberbullying.” Peter Gallagher, Katie Dunn, and Kelsey Thomas were finalists for Best Sports Writing for their Beacon article, “Selfless, tough, compassionate.” The Beacon was also a finalist for the Best All-Around Non Daily Student Newspaper award. First-place winners will move on to the national MOE competition among category winners from all regions. National winners will be notified in the late spring and will be recognized at the Excellence in Journalism 2014 conference in Nashville, Tenn., September 4 to 6.

For more information contact Nancy Copic, student activities, at 7470 or copic@up.edu.

National Win For The Beacon

Caitlin Yilek, who served as the 2011-2012 Beacon opinions editor, has won a national First Place Award for Editorial Writing in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence Awards, for editorials she wrote for The Beacon. Two current Beacon staffers, Kate Stringer and Jackie Jeffers, are national finalists for Feature Writing and Sports Photography, respectively. The Beacon journalists competed in the “Small School” category, meaning colleges and universities with 5,000 or fewer students. Yilek, who graduated in 2012, won for her editorials titled “Where are all the women?,” “University disregards student media,” and “What has ASUP done for you?” She is now a copy editor at the in her home state of Minnesota. She will receive the award at the SPJ Excellence in Journalism convention in Anaheim, Calif.,in August. For more information contact Nancy Copic, student activities, at 7470 or copic@up.edu.

“Beacon” Shines Again

The Beacon made an impressive showing at the regional Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) conference at held at Gonzaga University, winning first place in five categories in the Mark of Excellence awards, according to Nancy Copic, student activities. The Beacon also won second place for best all-around weekly college newspaper (5,000 students and fewer). First place winners will advance to the national SPJ competition and winners will be announced at the national SPJ conference in Anaheim, Calif., in late August.

First Place winners include:

  • General News Reporting: Philip Ellefson, “Access Denied”
  • Feature Writing: Kate Stringer, “Molly’s Legacy: Hope for Haiti”
  • Column Writing: Amanda Munro, Sarah Hansell, Lydia Laythe
  • Sports Photography: Jackie Jeffers, “Round Two!”
  • Editorial Writing: Caitlin Yilek, Opinions editor

Second place winners include:

  • Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper (schools with 5,000 or fewer students)
  • General News Reporting: Kelsey Thomas, “Students cooperate but still can’t party”
  • Feature Photography: Joey Solano, “The story behind the ink”
  • In-depth Reporting: Rosemary Peters (last year’s editor in chief), “What’s in our Air?”

Third place winners included Jackie Jeffers, who won in Breaking News Photography for “He said yes!”

Region 10 includes collegiate newspapers in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. For more information contact Copic at 7470 or copic@up.edu.

Beacon Shines Again

The University’s award-winning student publication, the Beacon, has won 10 regional Mark of Excellence awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, according to advisor Nancy Copic, student activities. The competition encompasses student newspapers from Washington, Oregon, Montana, Idaho and Alaska. The Beacon competed in the Small College or University category, with 5,000 or fewer undergraduate students. The staff will learn if the awards are for first, second, or third place at the regional SPJ conference at Gonzaga on April 12 and 13. Any first place regional winners will advance to the national SPJ competition later in the year. For more information contact Copic at 7470 or copic@up.edu.