BYU’s Universe claims Society of Professional Journalists awards

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The Universe claimed eight first-place awards and 14 other awards, more than all other Utah collegiate publications combined, in an annual competition sponsored by the Utah Headliners chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

BYU student winners, announced June 20, are Mason Porter for best personality profile; Katie Harmer for best opinion column; James Gardner for best front page design; Krista Roy for best general feature; Andrew Devey, Kate Bennion and Miriam Shumway for a team effort for best continuing coverage; Elizabeth Edwards, Hunter Schwarz, Heather Daley, Kelly Bluth and Lok Yi Chan, whose writing combined to win best series; Chris Bunker for best feature photo and Sarah Hill for best sports feature photo.

The competition compared The Universe’s work against collegiate and professional publications of a similar size, for the most part. Exceptions where categories combined all publication sizes include art illustrations, where Universe chief photographer Chris Bunker took third place, and single-page design, where The Universe also took third.

The annual competition follows by two months a separate Mark of Excellence contest sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists that is just for collegiate publications. In that regional competition, which included Utah, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico, The Universe swept the in-depth reporting awards for newspapers in its size category, claimed first-place honors in breaking news reporting, general news reporting and photo illustrations and was recognized with other awards.

Unlike some campuses where the student publication is independent, The Universe is an integrated laboratory newspaper. There is significant interplay among students, faculty and The Universe’s administrative staff. Reporters for The Universe are communications majors focusing on journalism or public relations, and the publication has an end-to-end business model and functions largely on advertising revenue.

“This is the advantage of having a journalism lab. Faculty and staff mentor students in the actual creation, production, writing and editing of print and digital media,” said Ed Adams, chair of BYU’s Department of Communications.

The good competition showing also overlays a year of transition. One year ago The Universe (then the Daily Universe) went from daily to weekly print publication as part of the emphasis on its “digital first” initiative, which includes The Universe’s online presence at universe.byu.edu and its iPhone and Android mobile news apps.

Here is the complete list of BYU’s winning entries:

Art/Illustration

Third Place: “The bully in your browser” by Chris Bunker

Best Single-Page Design

Third Place: “Concussion discussion” by Universe Staff

Personality Profile

First Place: “Piano prodigy prepares for his senior recital” by Mason Porter

Religion/Values Reporting

Second Place: “Modern day pioneers share stories of faith, struggle, conversion” by Karisa Saunders

Opinion Column

First Place: “Viewpoint: Balancing feminism” by Katie Harmer

Page Design- Front Page

First Place: “London 2012” by Universe Staff

Third Place: “Stacking Up” by Universe Staff

Page Design- Feature Page

Second Place: “Tears and triumphs of the trek (page 7)” by Universe Staff

Third Place: “From the book to the big screen (page 9)” by Universe Staff

Spot News

Honorable Mention: “Spot News” by Robbie Jenkins

General News

Second Place: “BYU working to buy “Y” trail” by Brett Lee

General Feature

First Place: “Tourism growth in Utah brings success to the state, satisfaction to the sojourner” by Krista Roy

Second Place: “Local politicians fight for congressional bid” by Jeff Finley

Continuing Coverage

First: “BYU’s massive data crash” by Andrew Devey, Kate Bennion & Miriam Shumway

Series

First: “BYU mentors Utah higher education” by Elizabeth Edwards, Hunter Schwarz, Heather Daley, Kelly Bluth & Lok Yi Chan

Second: “Mitt Romney” by Katie Clark, Ee Chien Chua & Lindsey Larson

Honorable Mention: “Fraud” by Kristian Ekenes, Stacie Carnley, Rebecca Lane & Kari Merril

Arts & Entertainment

Third: “Sounds from the valley (page 7)” by Court Mann

Feature Photo

First: “Living planet plans to grow” by Chris Bunker

Sports Action Photo

Second: “Utah fans help make MUSS of BYU offense (page 9)” by Chris Bunker

Sports Feature Photo

First: “Jackpot” by Sarah Hill

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