March 29, 2014 marked The Society of Professional Journalists’ regional conference, which took place at the BYU Salt Lake Center in downtown Salt Lake City. The region of SPJ coving BYU also consists of schools from Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico. Awards were given to the following BYU broadcast and print students:
Broadcast
First Place Winners:
ElevenNEWS — Best All-around Television Newscast
Jessica Black Littlefield: Radio Feature Reporting
Christopher Nestman: TV Breaking News Reporting
Ali Monsen Bryner: TV Feature Reporting
Brady Tucker, Christine Assily: TV Sports Reporting
Second Place Winners:
Aya Khatib: TV Breaking News Reporting
Ali Monsen Bryner: TV General News Reporting
Matt Rascon: TV Feature Reporting
From the SPJ Mark of Excellence contest:
First Place Winners:
Sports Writing: Jenn Cardenas for “Whatever happened to Golden Richards?”
Second Place Winners:
Sports Writing: Shawn Fielding for “Pay-for-play scheduling leads to lopsided wins”
In-Depth Reporting: Amy McDonald for “Mormon feminism about more than ordination” and
General News Reporting: Ashley Wawro and Suzie Fluckinger for “Government shutdown affects Utah economy and national parks”
First Place Winners:
Best Sports Story to Shawn Fielding for “Pay for Play”
Best Sports Photograph to Chris Bunker for “Rugby win celebration”
Best Sports Page – The Universe
Best Advertising Idea for “Mind the Gap”
Best Use of Ad Color for “Mind the Gap”
Best In House Self Promotion for “Front Row Fanatics”
Best Circulation Promotion for “Day in the Life of BYU”
Best Staff Produced R.O.P. Ad Campaign for off-campus ad “Update your address”
Second Place Winners:
Best Website – The Universe
Best General News Story to Samantha Varvel for “American gun control”
Best Feature Story to Charles Beacham, Alysa Kelinman, Tasha Singer, Kayla Franson and Jenn Cardenas for “BYU myth busters”
Best Feature Photo, second place
Best Photo Page for General Conference coverage
Best Sports Photograph to Chris Bunker for “Ben Patch”
Best Front Page for the new student orientation edition
Best In House Self Promotion for “Universe Marketplace Eggstravaganza”
Third Place Winners:
Best General News Story, third place, to Robbie Jenkins for “BYU students lead longest-running and most extensive exit poll in Utah
Best Feature Photo for the “Day in the Life of BYU” layout
Best Staff Produced R.O.P. Ad Campaign for the off-campus ad “Freeze”
Best Feature Story either for Lucy Schouten’s “Mormons and Muslims unified in path to God or Trevor Woller’s “BYU athletics shows faith-centered priorities”
Best Special Section, third place for “Two” dating guide
Congratulations to all of the winners!