Kent State University earned 16 Mark of Excellence awards at the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Region 4 spring conference, including first place honors for The Kent Stater (best all-around non-daily newspaper) and TV2 (best all-around television newscast).
The 16 awards are the second most of any college or university in the region.
SPJ’s Region 4 comprises colleges and universities in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and western Pennsylvania. Senior journalism majors Vivian Feke and Alexa Maslowski, and alumnus Matt Merchant, ’15, represented student media and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication (JMC) at the two-day conference, which took place April 1-2, 2016, in Cincinnati.
SPJ awarded a winner and two finalists in 36 categories. (Some categories awarded winners and finalists separately for small and large institutions. JMC students placed in the large institution category.) First-place winners will move on to the national Mark of Excellence competition among category winners from the 12 SPJ regions. National winners will be announced in late spring and recognized at Excellence in Journalism 2016, Sept. 18-20, 2016, in New Orleans.
Kent State students and student media organizations placed in the following categories:
First place:
- General News Photography: Alumnus Jacob Byk, ’15 (The last shot)
- Non-Fiction Magazine Article: Alumna Chrissy Suttles, ’15 (Two seconds in Cudell)
- Online In-Depth Reporting: Alumna Chrissy Suttles, ’15 (Two seconds in Cudell)
- All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper: The Kent Stater
- All-Around Television Newscast: TV2 News
- Television Breaking News Reporting: Journalism major Alexa Maslowski, ’16 (Akron Plane Crash)
Finalists:
- Breaking News Photography: Alumnus Matt Merchant, ’15 (Cowboy down)
- Feature Photography: Journalism major Max McCarty, ’17 (Before the skates hit the ice)
- General News Photography: Visual journalism major Amani Williams, ’16 (Ebony Awards)
- Photo Illustration: Visual journalism major Jenna Watson, ’16 (Eating disorder)
- Sports Photography: Journalism major Clint Datchuk, ’16 (Touchdown catch)
- Affiliated Website: KentWired.com
- Use of Multimedia: Journalism majors Emily Mills, ’16, and Allie Johnson, ’16 (Ohio bill calls for defunding abortion-performing organizations)
- Online Feature Reporting: Visual journalism major Rachel Le Goubin, ’16 (Annual Santa train journeys through Appalachia)
- Online News Reporting: Journalism majors Emily Mills, ’16, and Ian Klein, ’16 (Kent man armed with machete shot and killed by police)
- Television Feature Reporting: Journalism major Vivian Feke, ’16 (Making a difference)