W&L Journalism Students Win SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards Students took first place in three categories in the Society of Professional Journalists’ regional college journalism competition.
Washington and Lee students won Mark of Excellence Awards in three categories in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Region 2 competition.
Hannah Denham, a junior from Spanish Fort, Alabama, took first place in the In-Depth Reporting category for her work in exposing flaws in Florida’s SunPass toll system while she was an intern at the Tampa Bay Times last summer.
Gus Cross, a senior from Shelbyville, Tennessee, won the Feature Writing prize for a story he wrote for The Roanoke Times about Humpback Bridge in Alleghany County, Virginia.
Eight W&L students took first place in Best Use of Multimedia for “W&L at a Crossroads: Direction of Diversity is Not Black & White.” The project was completed as part of a Winter Term 2018 journalism course, Multimedia Storytelling Design.
The Rockbridge Report, the department’s twice-weekly newscast and website, was a finalist in the Best Independent Online Student Publication category. It also was a finalist in the Television Breaking News Reporting category for its live election night coverage in November 2018.
Elly Cosgrove, a senior from Wilmington, North Carolina, was a finalist in the Feature Writing category for a story she wrote during her internship at the Charlotte Business Journal about a nationwide shortage of truck drivers. She also was a finalist in the Television Sports Reporting category for her story for the Rockbridge Report about the growth of eSports on W&L’s campus.
Ellen Kanzinger, Maria Rachal and Faith Pinho, all 2018 graduates, were finalists in the Online In-Depth Reporting category for their journalism capstone project, “Field of Dreams: Young Farmers in Rockbridge.”
Region 2 is comprised of universities in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia.
Honorees received award certificates the weekend of April 6 at the Region 2 Conference in Ocean City, Maryland.
First-place winners move on to compete at the national level with other regional MOE winners from the SPJ’s 12 regions. The winners will be announced in the fall.
