Louisiana Christian University convergence media and public relations students swept the Southeast Journalism Conference on-site awards Sunday—placing 2nd in the overall number of awards given and bringing home seven 1st place awards and a total of 14 top three nods.
“Ecstatic doesn’t even come close to how proud I am of our entire team,” said Dr. Elizabeth Clarke, chair of the Department of Media and Communication. “These students earned so much validation for their hard work. LCU is the smallest member school in SEJC, and this shows the quality of education and time our faculty have to invest in our students, and it pays off when they are committed to their craft like these students are.”
Nine students attended SEJC at Troy University in Troy, Alabama Feb . 23-25 and participated in on-site competitions against students from other universities across the Southeast.
The following LCU students placed:
Victoria Watson – Arts and Entertainment Photography, 3rd place
Nathan Roper – Arts and Entertainment Radio Reporting, 3rd place
Cayden Walls – Arts and Entertainment TV Reporting, 1st place
Cayden Walls – Feature TV Reporting, 1st place
Carmen Taffi – TV News Reporting, 3rd place
Julia Keller – Sports Radio Reporting, 1st place
Noel Schonhoff – TV Anchoring, 3rd place
Victoria Watson – TV New Producer, 1st place
Nathan Roper, Carmen Taffi and Samuel Hair: Public Relations Campaign, 2nd place
Kaleigh Power and Cayden Walls – Artificial Intelligence Collaboration, 1st place
Samuel Hair – Media Law Quiz, 1st place
In addition, Best of the South awards were given to the best student submissions representing published and broadcast works of journalism for 2023.
The following students were recognized:
Lexi Rachal – Best Graphic Designer/Data Journalist, 1st place
Brandon Brown – Best TV News Reporter, 3rd place
Best Audio Program – “Whitewashed” by Phoebe Lim, 3rd place
SEJC includes 25 colleges and universities in the Southeast and is open to all schools in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Clarke and Al Quartemont, assistant professor of journalism, will oversee the SEJC Best of the South Competition for 2025.