WVU P.I. Reed School of Journalism (SOJ) students and faculty continue to earn national and international recognition for their outstanding work.
Earlier this month, Assistant Professor Dana Coester earned the Broadcast Education Association’s (BEA) highest honor at the 2013 Festival of Media Arts. She was presented the “Best of Festival” award in the Faculty Interactive Multimedia Competition for the “Mobile Main Street” project, an initiative to engage small-community organizations, businesses and media in mobile app development and marketing to help fuel economic development in local communities.
Two students also were recognized at the competition. Krista Baker received third place in the Television News Anchor category of the Student News Competition for her work on “WVU News,” and Jamie McCracken tied for third place in the TV Sports Feature category of the Student Sports Competition.
The BEA Festival of Media Arts is an international refereed exhibition of faculty creative activities and a national showcase for student works and is sponsored by the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation, Avid and Sony.
The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) also announced its 2012 Region 4 Mark of Excellence Awards winners this month, including the work of six SOJ students.
Michael Carvelli earned first place in Sports Column Writing (Large); Omar Ghabra won first place for Photo Illustration (Large); Jamie McCracken earned first place and Erik Roberts earned third place in Television Sports Reporting; Chelsi Baker won first place and Evan Moore won second place in the Online Feature Reporting (Large) category; and “WVU News – Special Edition, Election” won third place in Best All-Around Television Newscast.
In addition, the School’s “West Virginia Uncovered” project won first place as Best Independent Online Student Publication for a large university. Launched in 2008, “West Virginia Uncovered” is a multimedia web project that provides training and content to newspapers throughout the state and region.
SPJ’s Mark of Excellence Awards honor the best in student journalism. Region 4 comprises Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia and parts of western Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh. Honorees received award certificates April 6 at the Region 4 Spring Conference in Dayton, Ohio. School divisions are based on student enrollment, which includes both graduate and undergraduate enrollment.
First-place winners will move on to the national Mark of Excellence competition among category winners from the 12 SPJ regions. National winners will be notified in the late spring and will be recognized at the Excellence in Journalism 2013 conference in southern California in late August.