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.