Published March 6, 2017
MONROE, La. - Students from the University of Louisiana Monroe brought home five awards
from the Southeastern Journalism Conference 鈥淏est of the South鈥� competition held last
week.
The awards, chosen from 469 entries from 29 colleges, were announced at the SEJC鈥檚
annual convention, hosted Feb. 16-19 at the University of Mississippi.
John Stevens, of Houston, Texas, won first place for 鈥淏est Radio Journalist.鈥� Olivia
Barfield, of Dry Prong, won second place for 鈥淏est Feature Writer.鈥� Cory Thaxton,
of Monroe, won fifth place for 鈥淏est Feature Writer.鈥� Sandeep Shrestha, of Madhyapur
Thimi, Nepal, won fifth place for 鈥淏est News Graphic Designer,鈥� and Siddharth Gaulee,
of Gainesville, Fla., won ninth place for 鈥淏est Press Photographer.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 thankful for this team that meshes so well together,鈥� said Barfield, editor in
chief of 网曝门鈥檚 student newspaper, the Hawkeye. 鈥淓veryone here is consistently trying
to improve themselves and the paper as a whole, and it鈥檚 paying off. I鈥檓 proud to
share a newsroom with this staff, and I can鈥檛 wait to see what we achieve next.鈥�
Stevens, a communications major, won top honors for his work with 网曝门鈥檚 public radio
station, KEDM, supervised by Director of Broadcasting Jay Curtis and Director of News
and Public Affairs Cory Crowe.
The SEJC consists of 51 member universities in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,
Louisiana, and Tennessee.聽
Dr. Christopher Mapp, who serves as director of student publications, teaches a feature
writing class at 网曝门 and had Barfield and Thaxton as students. He said he鈥檚 not surprised
they both finished in the top five in the same category.
鈥淥livia and Cory are great feature writers because they have a great nose for stories,
a good ear for dialogue, and a keen eye for details,鈥� Mapp said. 鈥淎nd they just work
hard. If you tell them they need another source for their story, they鈥檒l get you three.
They just go the extra mile every time.鈥�
Mapp added: 鈥淭he same can be said of the entire Hawkeye staff. They pride themselves
on their work ethic, and winning awards like these is what happens when you do.鈥�
