News Bureau
Students and a faculty member from the department of journalism at Louisiana Tech University won 34 awards including 10 first place honors in recent journalism competitions.
Students received 15 awards from the Louisiana Press Association, 10 from the Louisiana/Mississippi Associated Press Media Editors, and four from the National Federation of Press Women. Scott Boatright, who also works part time for The Ruston Daily Leader, received four awards from LPA, and one from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.
“We are proud for our student and faculty work to be recognized by premier professional organizations that represent the major media outlets in this state, region and nation.” said Dr. Reginald Owens, chair of the journalism department. “What these awards tell us is that our work in journalism at Louisiana Tech ranks among the best.”
Owens said he was particularly proud of the national awards and the awards in Web/digital journalism. He said in the LPA, Tech swept the Web Project category taking all three places and received third for Best Website.
“I can’t over emphasize how high the level of competition is in these contests,” Owens said. “We compete with much larger schools with many more resources and we win. We have a lot to be proud of.”
With honors won earlier this year from the Society of Professional Journalists in regional competition, Owens said the department has earned a total of 39 awards so far this year.
In LPA, staff members of the Tech Talk received the following awards:
• The Sam Hanna Award, Best Regular Column and First Place for Best Regular Column: alumnus Ray Patterson, former editor-in-chief.
• First Place, Best News Story: senior Paul Dauterive, reporter.
• First Place, Best Sports Story: alumnus Paul Harris, former reporter.
• First Place, Best Web Project: The Talk staff.
• Second Place, Best Feature Story: alumnus Austin Vining, former editor-in-chief.
• Second Place, Best Front Page: The Tech Talk staff.
• Second Place, Best Regular Column: John Sadler, editor-in-chief.
• Second Place, Best News Photo: alumnus Deepanjan Mukhopadhyay, former photo editor.
• Second Place, Best Feature Photo: alumnus Deepanjan Mukhopadhyay, former photo editor.
• Second Place, Best Overall Web Project: junior Catherine Burke and Brennen Lege, reporters.
• Second Place, Best Website: The Tech Talk staff.
• Third Place, Best Sports Story: junior Will Trahan, reporter.
• Third Place, Best Regular Column, alumna Allison East, former news editor.
• Third Place, Best Web Project, Brennen Lege, reporter.
In the Louisiana/Mississippi APME competition, staff members of The Tech Talk won the following:
• First Place, Breaking/Spot News: senior Paul Dauterive, reporter.
• First Place, Best News Story: senior Paul Dauterive, reporter.
• Second Place, Enterprise/Investigative Reporting: alumnus Cody “Tick” McElroy, former managing editor.
• Second Place, Personal Columns: junior John Sadler, editor-in-chief.
• Third Place, Personal Columns: alumna Allison East, former news editor.
• Third Place, Best News Photo: alumnus Deepanjan Mukhopadhyay, former photo editor.
• Third Place, Features: junior Brennen Lege, reporter.
• Third Place, for General Excellence: The Tech Talk staff.
• Third Place, Sports Breaking News: senior Jared King, former sports editor.
• Third Place, Best Website: The Tech Talk staff.
In the NFPW, staff members received the following awards:
• First Place, News Writing: alumnus Cody Sexton, former managing editor.
• First Place, Sports Writing: senior Jared King, former sports editor.
• First Place, Opinion/Editorial/Review: alumna Allison East, former news editor.
• Second Place, Art and Design Photographs: alumnus Deepanjan Mukhopadhyay, former photo editor.
Boatright, Lagniappe yearbook adviser and instructor, received the following four awards from the LPA: First Place, Best Sports Coverage; Second Place, Best News Story; Second Place, Best Sports Column; and Third Place, Best Sports Column. He won Second Place for Sports Feature Writing from the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.