Ohio University journalism students bring home a delightful dozen in regional competition

Ohio University campus journalists and photojournalists competed successfully in the Region 4 Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Mark of Excellence awards that were announced April 15 at the Region 4/5 Conference.

Region 4 includes students at universities in Michigan, Ohio, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. These awards are for work published during the 2022 year. Universities are divided into two categories, small (up to 9,999 students) and large (10,000 or more students). OHIO competes in the large division. OHIO finished second in the unofficial sweepstakes for total awards won with 12. Michigan State University received 18 awards.

“I say this each year, but it’s true,” Nerissa Young, faculty adviser to the OHIO SPJ chapter, said. “Campus journalists are doing the same demanding work as community journalists. At OHIO, they cover campus, community and state issues on a regular basis. We know our campus journalists are doing good work, and we appreciate that judges recognize that, too.”

Region 4 winners will compete against regional winners from SPJ’s other 11 regions in the national Mark of Excellence competition. Those winners will be honored at SPJ’s national conference in Las Vegas in September.

OHIO winners include:

• Trevor Brighton, a senior from Cleveland, Ohio for illustration for “Erasing Russia,” published by The Post and for photo illustration for “Party foul,” published by The Post.
• Zach Donaldson, a sophomore from Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, for general column writing for his columns published by The New Political.
• Jesse Jarrold-Grapes, a senior from Cincinnati, Ohio for sports photography for “Ohio guard AJ Brown shoots for three,” published by The Post.
• Carrie Legg, a senior from Columbus, Ohio for photo essay/slideshow for “Capitol Reaction: Roe v. Wade is overturned,” published by The Post.
• Isabel Nissley, a junior from Cincinnati, Ohio for data visualization for the story titled “June AEP outage affected lower-income areas at higher rate,” published by Matter News.

OHIO finalists are:

• Ashley Beach, a junior from Waynesville, Ohio for sports column writing for “Life’s a Beach,” published by The Post.
• Molly Burchard, a junior from Hilliard, Ohio for sports writing for “Football: Ohio falls to Toledo 17-7 in MAC championship game,” published by The Post.
• Izzy Keller, a senior from Huron, Ohio and Audrianna Wilde, a senior from Pickerington, Ohio for photo essay/slideshow for “#RacismatOU: A march on Cutler,” published by The New Political.
• Katie Millard, a junior from Bexley, Ohio for general column writing for “Unsolicited advice,” published by The Post.
• Claire Schiopota, a junior from Aurora, Ohio for in-depth reporting for “Importance of options and access: How students, professionals feel about women’s health care resources,” published by The Post.
• Staff of Thread Magazine for Best Student Magazine for the great outdoors or modern art issue.

SPJ’s mission promotes professional training, ethics, freedom of information and inclusion.