They’re the best – we knew it and the contest judges provided the validation.
University of Montana journalism students were big winners in the Society of Professional Journalists competition for college journalists. Here’s the news, as released this afternoon by UM.
University of Montana School of Journalism students won 25 awards in the regional Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence competition – more than twice the awards of any school in a region that includes Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Alaska.
Fourteen UM students won first place awards. Their entries will be judged in the national SPJ competition in May.
In the four-year college category, there were 31 competition areas, including photography, print reporting, online news, radio news, and television reporting and photography.
UM winners are:
Breaking News Photography:
First Place: “A Missoula Firefighter” by Greg Lindstrom.
Feature Photography:
Third Place: “Lace Lake Fisherman” by Greg Lindstrom.
General News Photography:
Second Place: “Ranger Challenge” by Sally Finneran.
Sports Photography:
Third Place: “Three-way Squeeze” by Greg Lindstrom.
Feature Writing:
First Place: “The War Within” by Justin Franz.
Second Place: “Not a Drop to Drink” by Kimball Bennion.
General News Reporting:
First Place: “Missoula Shaken Baby Conviction Relied on Science, Expert” by Jayme Fraser.
Best Independent Online Student Publication:
First Place: “Living Sicker, Dying Younger” by the Native News team.
Online News Reporting:
First Place: “Young Lives Lost” by Carmen Irish and Tetona Dunlap.
Radio News Reporting:
First Place: “Recycling in Missoula” by Annemiek Wilson.
Radio Sports Reporting:
First Place: “Hellgate Rollergirls” by Emily Creasia.
Television Feature Reporting:
First Place: “Soldier Care Packages” by Gillette Vaira and Alison Kilts.
Television General News Reporting:
First Place: “Recycling Overload” by Gillette Vaira.
Second Place: “Methamphetamine Research” by Brittany Wooley.
Television In-Depth Reporting:
First Place: “Cannabusiness” by the Student Documentary Unit.
Second Place: “Patrolling the Big Sky” by the Montana Journal staff.
Television Sports Reporting:
First Place: “Frontier States Wrestling” by Cody Johnson and Kaelyn
Kelly.
Second Place: “The Crossfit Culture” by Tyler Velin and Dan LaDue.
Third Place: “When Griz Fly” by Dan LaDue and Jake Stevenson.
Television Feature Photography:
First Place: “Mountain Biking in Missoula” by Vince Bagby.
Second Place: “Filmmakers” by Gillette Vaira.
Third Place: “Hellgate Rollergirls” by Keith Hensley and Kristina
Matsalak.
Television News Photography:
First Place: “Hair Fever” by Drew Stanley and Vince Bagby.
Second Place: “Pine Beetle Mania” by Dan LaDue and Brittany Wooley.
Television Sports Photography:
First Place: “Frontier States Wrestling” by Cody Johnson and Kaelyn
Kelly.