Published March 6, 2017
MONROE, La. - Students from the University of Louisiana Monroe brought home five awards
from the Southeastern Journalism Conference βBest of the Southβ competition held last
week.
The awards, chosen from 469 entries from 29 colleges, were announced at the SEJCβs
annual convention, hosted Feb. 16-19 at the University of Mississippi.
John Stevens, of Houston, Texas, won first place for βBest Radio Journalist.β Olivia
Barfield, of Dry Prong, won second place for βBest Feature Writer.β Cory Thaxton,
of Monroe, won fifth place for βBest Feature Writer.β Sandeep Shrestha, of Madhyapur
Thimi, Nepal, won fifth place for βBest News Graphic Designer,β and Siddharth Gaulee,
of Gainesville, Fla., won ninth place for βBest Press Photographer.β
βIβm thankful for this team that meshes so well together,β said Barfield, editor in
chief of ΠίΠίΚΣΖ΅βs student newspaper, the Hawkeye. βEveryone here is consistently trying
to improve themselves and the paper as a whole, and itβs paying off. Iβm proud to
share a newsroom with this staff, and I canβt wait to see what we achieve next.β
Stevens, a communications major, won top honors for his work with ΠίΠίΚΣΖ΅βs 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.Β
Dr. Christopher Mapp, who serves as director of student publications, teaches a feature
writing class at ΠίΠίΚΣΖ΅ and had Barfield and Thaxton as students. He said heβs not surprised
they both finished in the top five in the same category.
βOlivia 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,β Mapp said. βAnd they just work
hard. If you tell them they need another source for their story, theyβll get you three.
They just go the extra mile every time.β
Mapp added: βThe 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.β
