Belmont journalism students won several major awards at the Southeast Journalism Conference’s Best of the South competition held Feb. 17-19 at Troy University in Alabama. The SEJC named belmontvision.com the best Web site, and Connect, a magazine produced by Belmont students to distribute to incoming freshmen and transfer students, was named the top college magazine.
“BelmontVision.com recognizes the immediacy of the world college students live in — a continually evolving tech savvy world,” said editor Erin Carson. “Being college students ourselves, we know how to report on the topics that mean the most to Belmont students and get that information out to them.”
Several Belmont students won individual awards as well. Journalism students Erin Carson and Dustin Stout placed in onsite competitions, in which students competed on deadlines in individual and group categories.
In addition to the student awards, Linda Quigley, instructor in journalism and faculty adviser for The Vision, was named Journalism Educator of the Year. “This award acknowledges all our efforts in SEJC and in our own Department of Media Studies to teach solid journalistic values as well as new media skills,” said Quigley. “Journalism is undergoing constant change, and we have to meet the challenge of preparing students not only for current jobs, but also for job tracks that don’t even exist yet.”
Quigley’s win is not a first for Belmont — Thom Storey, chair of the Department of Media Studies, was Journalism Educator of the year in 1993. Storey was one of the founders of SEJC, which now includes more than 35 schools in eight states.
The purpose of SEJC is to function as a teaching tool as well as a competition. Twenty journalism professionals from around the country judged the 331 entries in this year’s “Best of the South” competition; onsite judges are journalism faculty and professionals in the area where the conference is held. Belmont hosted the conference in 2009. A complete list of Belmont winners can be found below.
Best of the South Competition:
Best Web Site: Belmontvision.com, First place
Best College Magazine: Connect, First place
Feature Writing: Erin Carson, Top 10 Finish
Newspaper Page Layout: Cassidy Hodges, Top 10 Finish
Sportswriting: Pierce Greenberg, Top 10 Finish
Journalism Educator of the Year: Linda Quigley
Onsite Competition:
Feature Writing: Erin Carson, First Place
Arts and Entertainment Writing: Dustin Stout, Third Place
