UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS STUDENT JOURNALISTS NOMINATED FOR NATIONAL AWARDS

FAYETTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas has been honored with the second-most national finalists in the country at the Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence Awards.

The Arkansas Traveler, the four-day-a-week student newspaper, has the most newspaper national finalists with five, and the student-produced television station, UATV, has two finalists.

The University of Maryland leads the competition with nine national finalists followed by Arkansas and three schools with six finalists each.

"This clearly demonstrates that the University is attracting and nurturing outstanding student journalists, and we’re very proud of them," UA Journalism Department Chairwoman Patsy Watkins said. "These finalists also reflect very positively on our faculty, who are working with these students both in broadcast and in news editorial."

This year’s competition drew more than 2,500 entries in 45 categories for print, radio, television and online collegiate journalism. Eligible submissions were required to have been published or broadcast in 2002, and works completed as a student intern was also accepted.

"I knew all year that this staff was one of the best The Traveler had ever had, but the amount of awards we have won is just amazing," 2002-2003 Editor of The Traveler Denise Malan said. "I am proud of everyone involved on the paper last year; they have all deserved every single award they’ve received."

UATV was selected last year as the best non-daily newscast for its "On The Hill" broadcast in the SPJ contest. Last year, The Traveler also had the most national finalists in the newspaper category with three.

"It’s just nice to see what we do being recognized on a national level," UATV Station Manager Shelton Jacobs said. "Our goal all along has been to be nationally competitive, and I think in the past two years, we’ve proven we can be."

The Traveler is nominated in the following categories:

Editorial writing — The Traveler editorial board

Editorial cartooning — Dusty Higgins

Sports column writing — Ben Beaumont

Sports news photography — Aaron Esmaeilpour

Photo illustration — David Yerby

UATV is nominated in the following categories:

Television feature photography — Shelton Jacobs

Television non-daily newscast — On the Hill

Before reaching the national competition, students placed first in SPJ’s regional competitions in the spring.

The Traveler won 11 first-place awards, three second places, four third places and one honorable mention in the Region 12, consisting of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and most of Tennessee. UATV won four first places and one second-place award.

National winners will be announced at the Mark of Excellence Luncheon on Sept. 13 as part of the SPJ National Convention in Tampa, Fla. SPJ has sponsored the awards since 1972, honoring the best in student journalism.

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