Southeastern students bring home top awards from regional conference

Contact: Tonya Lowentritt

2/23/12

     HAMMOND Students from Southeastern Louisiana University won several awards, including four first place recognitions, at the recent Southeast Journalism Conference (SEJC), hosted by the University of Tennessee at Martin.
     At the event held Feb. 9-11, Chrissy Carter of LaPlace was named the Best Television Journalist and the Southeastern Channel’s “Northshore News” as the Best College Video News Program. Keturah Green of Amite earned first place in the media law onsite competition, and Juan Gonzales of Denham Springs was named best advertising staff member.
     Other winners from Southeastern included Nicholas Bejeaux of Denham Springs, second in special events reporting/editing, and Stephanie Katz of Mandeville, third in the journalism research paper competition.
Universities from eight states participated in the annual conference and competition.
     “SEJC is a gathering of colleges and their students from across the southeast portion of the country. Once a year students are awarded for excellence in college journalism and onsite competitions,” said Amber Narro, assistant professor in the Department of Languages and Communication.
     The conference included breakout sessions with respected media experts, and several keynote speakers. The sessions included advice and presentations from media experts on topics such as editing, psychology in reporting, covering crisis, breaking news, sports-writing, radio and communication management.
     Students in radio, television, public relations and photography competitions were given a crisis situation to handle in the form of a mock earthquake, Narro said. Students were challenged to take a press conference situation as seriously as if the event were occurring and report on it accordingly.
     According to Narro, Southeastern students enjoyed the overall experience and are already expressing interest in returning.
For more information about the Southeast Journalism Conference, contact Narro at amber.narro@southeastern.edu or visit the organization’s website at www.sejc.org.

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