Five journalism students and Dr. Jimmy McCollum went to the 2017 Southeastern Journalism Conference at the University of Mississippi Feb. 16-18, bringing home a total of seven awards.
Senior Whitney Smith, Junior Becca Risley, Sophomores Anna Rogers and Erin Franklin and Freshman Charissa Ricker competed in the on-site competitions at the conference. Ricker won third place in the Arts and Entertainment category.
“The on site competition really helped teach me what it’s like to be a journalist working in the field and writing stories in real time,” Ricker said. “I also learned that in this career field you are going to get knocked down, but you always need to get back up and let that experience make you a better journalist and a stronger person.”
Lipscomb’s off-site competition submissions consisted of stories, photography and TV news and radio packages that students worked on during 2016.
Risley placed third in Arts and Entertainment, Smith placed fifth in TV Hard News Reporting, Senior Erin Turner placed second in the Best Multimedia Journalist category and Senior Brooke Dorris placed fifth in TV Feature Reporting. Lumination Radio also won two awards — third place, Best College Radio Station, and second place, Best College Audio Program.
“SEJC was such a great experience,” Ricker added. “I loved getting to listen to experienced journalists talk about their career.”
Colleges from all across the Southeast were in attendance, and students had the opportunity to hear multiple expert guest speakers during panels and sessions, which included a special presentation which focused on the “Assault on the Media.”
Next year’s conference will take place at Harding University in February 2018.