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Communications students, alumni recognized as regional finalists in SPJ competition

Contest winners will be announced at the Society of Professional Journalists Region 2 conference April 6 in Ocean City, Maryland.

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Elon News Network, nine School of Communications students and two alumni were named finalists across several categories of the Society of Professional Journalists Region 2 Mark of Excellence Awards competition.

Below is a list of the finalists:

  • BEST AFFILIATED WEBSITE
  • BEST ALL-AROUND TELEVISION NEWSCAST –  and  newscasts
  • GENERAL NEWS REPORTING – Alex Hager ’19 and Emmanuel Morgan ’19 for
  • BREAKING NEWS REPORTING – Anton Delgado ’20 for
  • IN-DEPTH REPORTING – Anton Delgado ’20 for “ and
  • SPORTS WRITING – Jack Haley ’21 for
  • GENERAL NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY – Stephanie Hays ’18 for
  • BREAKING NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY – Anton Delgado ’20 for
  • FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY – Liam O’Connor ’21 for
  • SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY – Jessica Rapfogel ’19 for
  • SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY – Cory Weller ’20 for
  • PHOTO ILLUSTRATION – Meghan Kimberling ’20 for “Growing Elon’s ecological footprint through campus sustainability”
  • TELEVISION FEATURE REPORTING – Grace Morris ’20 for and
  • ONLINE IN-DEPTH REPORTING – Paul LeBlanc ’18 for
  • BEST USE OF MULTIMEDIA – Anton Delgado ’20 and Stephanie Hays ’18 for
  • PODCAST – Alex Hager ’19 for  and  episodes

Leblanc’s story is the only one on the list that was not completed for Elon News Network. He conducted his reporting during Winter Term as a Pulitzer Center Student Fellow. His 1,200-word investigation on Belmarsh, London’s highest security prison, delved into its approach to deradicalization, including the use of forced containment. It was published by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

SPJ Region 2 Mark of Excellence Awards are given in newspaper, TV, radio and online categories. Awards are presented only to those who place in the top three in the region. Regional winners move on to the national competition, at which time they will compete with 11 other first-place regional winners.

Region 2 comprises North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Delaware. Results of the Region 2 competition will be revealed at the regional conference awards luncheon on Saturday, April 6, in Ocean City, Maryland.

Last year, Diego Pineda ’19 won a national SPJ Mark of Excellence Award for General News Reporting for this story about sexual assault. And in 2017, Stephanie Hays was a national winner for Photo Illustration.

In fact, ¾Ã¾ÃÈÈ has had at least one national SPJ Mark of Excellence winner every year since 2012.