J-COMM Students Honored with Society of Professional Journalist Awards
An A-TV news team broadcasts live during the March 2016 grand opening of Huntsman Hall at the Jon M. Huntsman School at Business. The student newscasters shown here are, from left, Taylor Murray, Torrey Green and Brock Damjanovich. Photo credit: Sarah Winder
Utah State University journalism students set out to report the news, but they became the news when they won numerous awards for their excellent work from the Society of Professional Journalists.
Student reporters, photographers and TV broadcasters from Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming competed in the annual Mark of Excellent awards program, with winners announced last week in Albuquerque, N.M. SPJ is the nation’s largest broad-based journalism organization, representing professional as well as college journalists in all form of public media.
USU’s Aggie TV News garnered the “Best All-Around Television Newscast” in the large-university category. The A-TV staff went head to head with student broadcasters from such schools as Brigham Young University, Colorado State University and the University of Utah.
Other first-place trophies by USU students in USU’s Department of Journalism and Communication were in breaking news reporting, sports photography and sports writing.
USU winners were:
General news photography. Winner: “All Dogs Go to Heaven” by Ryan Costanzo.
Sports photography. Winner: “Touchdown Aggies” by Kyle Todecheene; finalist: “Home Safe” by Kylee Larsen.
Breaking news reporting. Winner: “Big Blue Impersonator Allegedly Scams Community Members” by Brenna Kelly.
Feature writing. Finalist: “Adderall Season” by Jeffrey Dahdah.
General column writing — by Logan Jones, Utah State University
Sports column writing and general column writing. Finalist: Logan Jones.
Sports writing. Winner: “All Eyes on Keeton” by Logan Jones.
Best all-around television newscast. Winner: Aggie TV News by A-TV Staff; finalist: Finalist: “Cache Rendezvous Holiday Edition” by A-TV Staff.
Television feature reporting. Finalist: “Putting the Agriculture Back in Aggies” by Sarah Winder.
Television news and feature photography. Winner: “Wheelchair Ballroom Dancing” by Jeffrey Dahdah.
First-place winners will move on to the national competition, with awards announced Sept. 18 in New Orleans.
See more about the College of Humanities and Sciences’ broadcasting program online as well as more on the SPJ awards.
USU’s Department of Journalism and Communication is a part of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
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