Southeastern Louisiana University students at the Southeastern Channel won eight Mark of Excellence Awards, including three first-place honors, at the Society of Professional Journalists’ annual Region 12 conference recently.
The Mark of Excellence Awards honor the best of collegiate journalism from a calendar year. The Society of Professional Journalists Region 12 includes all universities in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee.
First-place winners included Taylor Nettle of Lacombe, who won first place in “Broadcast News Videography” for her videography in the “Medline Groundbreaking” story for the Southeastern Channel’s student newscast “Northshore News.” The package covered groundbreaking ceremonies near the Hammond airport for a new $45 million, 650,000 square foot distribution center for the medical supply giant.
Also winning a first-place Mark of Excellence award was Alexis Genovese of Husser in the “Broadcast Feature Videography” category for videography in her Northshore News story, “Southeastern Vertebrate Museum.”
In addition to Nettle and Genovese, Jermaine Kelly of Shreveport also placed first, winning in “Broadcast Sports Videography” for camera work in his “Southeastern vs. Northwestern State Football” story for the student sportscast “The Big Game.”
Winning second-place or finalist recognition was Jordan Kliebert of Mandeville in “Broadcast News Videography” for videography in his “Causeway Improvements” story for Northshore News. The story covered new guard rail safety enhancements for drivers on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. Other Mark of Excellence finalists included Lauren Hawkins of Ponchatoula in “Television Feature Reporting” and Brian Williams of Baton Rouge in “Broadcast Feature Videography” for their work in the Northshore News story “Litter Gitter” about a device developed by local Don Bates to clean up Tangipahoa Parish waterways. Carson Fryou of Ponchatoula also won second place in “Television Sports Reporting” for his Big Game feature story on Lady Lion basketball player Morgan Carriere.
The June 28, 2021, episode of Northshore News won second-place finalist recognition in the “Best All Around Television Newscast” category. Hawkins produced and co-anchored the show with Trinity Brown of Baton Rouge. Reporters contributing stories to the newscast were Hawkins, Nettle, Kliebert, Anaclaire McKneely of Amite, Kaylor Yates of Baton Rouge and Joliette Vincent of Luling.
