Ten TSU Students Named Finalists for Regional Journalism Awards

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) – The 2014 finalists have been announced for the best in broadcast, print and online journalism by the Southeast Journalism Conference, with Tennessee State University students capturing finalist slots in 10 of the 23 individual categories.  College finalists in categories such as Best Website, Best Newspaper and Best Radio or TV Newscast were not released early.

Award winners will be announced at the SEJC conference, Friday Feb. 21, hosted by the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.

Tennessee State University finalists include:

*Best Opinion-Editorial Writer: Patrick Lewis
*Best Magazine Page Layout Designer: Brittney Bodden
*Best Radio Hard News Reporter: Brandi Giles
*Best Television News Feature Reporter: Quinn Panganiban
*Best Radio News Feature Reporter: Kelli Volk
*Best Radio Journalist: Chantell Copeland
*Best Advertising Staff Member: Ashli Beverley
*Best Journalism Research Paper: Jer’Mykeal McCoy
*College Journalist of the Year: Ce’Dra Jackson
*Best Multimedia Journalist: Alicia Bailey

According to Dr. Terry Likes, Chair of the Department of Communications, this is a testament to the commitment to excellence of students, faculty and the administration.

“Teaching students to work across media platforms, and an enhanced partnership with the student newspaper, The Meter, means we have improved the quality of our student media to the point where we now have more entries and more finalists in SEJC than we have had in recent years,” said Likes.

The Southeast Journalism Conference is a vibrant learning community of journalists honing their craft through professional development and the Best of the South Collegiate Journalism Competition. An organization comprised of more than 45 member colleges and universities in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, SEJC was created to encourage greater interest in student journalism and to form closer ties among journalism schools in the Southeast United States.

The Best of the South competition recognizes individual student journalists and university publications. The competition consists of 23 individual and eight university categories.