Journalism Students Recognized Regionally

Mar. 14 — Students writing and producing for UATV, the student-produced television station, and the Arkansas Traveler, the University of Arkansas student newspaper, earned 13 awards at the recent Region 12 Mark of Excellence awards sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists. Eight of the awards were received by UATV. The UATV staff received a first-place award for television non-daily newscast for its program "Arkansas on Campus," produced by broadcast journalism students enrolled in junior and senior level courses.

Graduate student Mary Marsh won a first-place award in the spot news reporting category for her coverage of the William J. Clinton Library Dedication; Brandi Jennings won a first-place award in the general news reporting category for her story on whether college athletes should be paid; and Scott Sharp and Alex Flippin captured a first-place award in the sports reporting category for their profile of Razorback kicker Chris Balseiro,

For work in the Traveler, Dusty Higgins won first place for editorial cartooning. Higgins earned a national prize for cartooning in last year's competition. Matt Hardin and Nick Roberts won first place in feature photography for "Homecoming Heartbreak."

Second-place winners at UATV were Marsh for her story on students who make money by climbing electrical towers (general news reporting); and Stephanie Robinson for a story on the UA Crew Team in the sports reporting category. Robinson also won a third-place award in the TV feature category for her story about the Multimedia Resource Center.

The Arkansas Traveler won second place in best all-around daily student newspaper and third place in editorial writing. Josh Tinker and Brandon Marcello won third place in sports column writing.

The first-place winners have advanced to the national level of the competition. National winners will be announced on May 17.

Region 12 includes universities in Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi. UATV broadcasts throughout northwest Arkansas on Cox Cable Channel 14.