From Feb. 14-16, The Hawkeye staff attended the Southeast Journalism Conference (SEJC) in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, at Middle Tennessee State University and left the conference with three awards. The Hawkeye won first place in Best Newspaper, third place in Best Website and also Sid Gaulee, a Hawkeye graphic designer, placed fourth for Best Graphic Designer.

The director of the paper, Dr. Christopher Mapp, is very proud of the Hawkeye staff and believes attending conferences such as the SEJC, is very beneficial for all staff members.

In fact, Mapp said, “First, they network with media students from other schools, forming friendships and professional connections. Second, they attend training sessions where they learn new skills and trends. And finally, they compete in different media categories, such as writing, editing, video, photography and layout and design, against other colleges and universities. These competitions provide them a measuring stick for the quality of their work.”

Gaulee, junior communications major, also agrees that attending these various conferences is very helpful for the editors, writers and other staff members that work hard to keep The Haw-keye running smoothly.

Gaulee said, “Even though I couldn’t attend SEJC this year, going to the conference in the past has been a tremendous help for our paper and for me personally. Watching what some of the schools were doing differently who placed high consistently helped me realize where we stood and what improvements we needed to make to reach that standard, and it’s great to see our work is now getting recognized.”

While the Hawkeye staff is proud of themselves for winning these awards, Luke Cotton, freshman risk management insurance major, said he was proud too.

“The Hawkeye is a great newspaper. I am not much a reader, but I do enjoy reading about events on campus. You can definitely tell how hard the editors and writers work to make the paper so great,” said Cotton.

Through hard work and dedication, the Hawkeye staff managed to bring home three awards.

The Hawkeye staff hopes to receive more awards on March 6-9 as they attend the College Media Association Convention in New York.