Ten Samford students and two journalism professors left Birmingham for the annual Southeastern Journalism Conference at Troy University last Friday, Feb. 23. Samford students won 17 awards in three divisions: Best of the South Individual Awards, Best of the South Outlet Awards and SEJC Onsite Competition Winners.
Dr. Will Heath, media and professional development advisor for the Samford Crimson, is Samford’s SEJC representative. Dr. Clay Carey, a professor in the department of communication and media, also drove with students to Troy, AL.
“You’re surrounded by people who are really passionate about doing good work and about getting better, and that’s what SEJC is really about,” said Carey.
Harper Harwell, senior journalism and mass communications student, won second place for Southeast Collegiate Journalist of the Year. She submitted two past articles from The Crimson, one piece from Samford student magazine The Local, two letters of recommendation and a personal essay earlier this year.
Carey co-coordinated judging for Best of the South awards, working with Mississippi State instructor Josh Foreman. Most of the work took place in January, but Carey announced some of the awards during the banquet on Saturday night, including Harwell’s.
Meg Robinson, a sophomore journalism and mass communications student, won second place in an onsite competition for sports photography, photographing the Troy v. Harvard baseball game alongside 20 competing photographers.
“A lot more people than I thought there would be [were] in my competition, which was a little scary,” said Robinson.
Robinson used experience to network and connect with peers, meeting two fellow photographers and exchanging Instagram handles with them.
“Maybe we’ll work together,” Robinson said. “Who knows?”
Harwell noted that participating colleges brought samples of their student media organizations, such as newspapers and magazines.
“We all picked up copies and looked at what they were doing and kind of compared it to our own work and so like you’re getting new ideas,” said Harwell.
Senior Ashleigh Jones and junior Christiana Hewlett competed in the onsite feature writing competition, during which they attended a children’s art program and interviewed those involved. Hewlett finished third overall and Jones finished second.
During the Saturday night banquet that included awards, Emmy-Award winning journalist Tom Foreman from CNN gave the keynote address.
“He was amazing,” said Harwell. “He just kind of was really honest about how it’s really hard to be a journalist sometimes, but that’s the fun of it; it’s really rewarding at the same time.”
Ashley Remkus, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner from AL.com, gave the keynote address Sunday morning.
While it was significant to spend time with student journalists outside of Samford, it was also special to get to know Samford peers better.
“Obviously I usually don’t spend three straight days with them,” said Harwell. “I think just spending time with everyone was really impactful for me.”
SEJC 2025 is set to take place at Mississippi State University.
After SEJC 2024, Carey was excited to see that Samford students can compete with big-school journalism programs, such as the University of Alabama and the University of Kentucky.
“We can always be better,” said Carey. “It’s a chance to look at our work and say, ‘What we do is good,’ and it’s always exciting to be recognized for that.”
Other Samford SEJC award winners include Claire Trammel, Aly Durban, Noelle Neader, Rebekah Crozier, Andrew White and Courtney Robeson.
