Communication students place well in journalism conference

Janel Shoun-Smith | 

Communication students won their first individual first place awards and a third place overall at annual conference

Lipscomb University’s Department of Communication and Journalism recently won 10 individual awards and came in third place overall in the Southeast Journalism Conference’s two annual contests.

This year, for the first time in five years of participation, students won first place individual awards in the 2014-2015 Best of the South competition and the conference’s on-site competition, said Jimmy McCollum, associate professor of communication.

Cory Woodroof, former editor-in-chief of the students’ Lumination news network on campus, won first place in arts and entertainment writing in the Best of the South awards competition and first place in the conference’s on-site news writing competition.

The awards were announced at the conference’s 29th annual convention held in Atlanta in February. Twelve Lipscomb students attended the conference.

Lipscomb’s three wins in the on-site competitions propelled the team to a three-way tie for third place among all the university teams at the conference. This is the first time Lipscomb has placed in the championship contest, said McCollum. 

In addition, Lumination Radio won third place for Best Radio Station and fourth place for Best Audio News Program.

The Southeast Journalism Conference comprises 51 universities in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. It was created to encourage greater interest in student journalism and to form closer ties among journalism schools in the Southeast United States.

More than 30 universities submitted nominations for the “Best of the South” awards categories in print, radio, video and online media.

Lipscomb’s individual winners were:

  • Cory Woodroof, first place, Best Arts and Entertainment Writer
  • Michael Fox, Kathryn McKinley, Kyrsten Turner, Marlee Vogel, Brynn Watkins, second place, Best Public Service Journalism
  • Brianna Langley, third place, Best News Writer
  • Brianne Welch, fourth place, Best Television Journalist
  • Erin Turner, fifth place, Best Press Photographer
  • Logan Butts, sixth place, Best Sports Writer
  • Madeline Smith, seventh place, Best Television Hard News Reporter
  • Carly Bergthold, eighth place, Best Television News Feature Reporter
  • Cory Woodroof, ninth place, College Journalist of the Year

Awards for Lumination overall included:

  • Lumination Radio, third place, Best Radio Station
  • Lumination Radio, fourth place, Best Audio News Program
  • Lumination TV, fourth place, Best Video News Program

Three students won awards in the on-site competition:

  • Haleigh Ker, second place, Radio News Reporting
  • Sam Webb, third place, Sports Photography
  • Cory Woodroof, first place, News Writing

Lipscomb’s Lumination student newscast airs weekdays on Campus Channel 97. The news show includes sports coverage, weather, entertainment news, student-developed and news features in addition to some off-campus coverage.

The Lumination Network is a student news bureau established in spring 2010 as part of the restructuring of the university’s communication and journalism department. Student journalists began production of a web news outlet at that time to replace the print newspaper, The Babbler.

In fall of 2011, Lumination added TV news coverage, which is shot, produced and edited completely by students, most of whom are doing it on their own time, not for class credit.

In 2012, just three months after its establishment, the Lumination Network placed third in the best college TV station category and third in the best college video news category in the Best of the South Awards. In 2013, the news network won third place for best college radio station and sixth place for best college television station.