The student-run newspaper at ULM sent four of its editors over Valentine’s Day weekend to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. They attended the Southeast Journalism Conference at the University of Southern Mississippi where they won many awards.

All four editors won individual awards either at the conference’s on-site competitions or their “Best of the South” awards ceremony. Two of the editors, Ashlyn Dupree and Loryn Kykendall were honored both times.

Kykendall, The Hawkeye’s opinion editor and a freshmen communication major, won first place in arts and entertainment writing at the “Best of the South” awards ceremony. She also won second place for arts and entertainment writing during the on-site competion.

It was Kykendall’s first conference with the paper and one she said she was happy to be able to attend while representing the paper and ULM.

“I was surprised to place at all because there were so many talented writers there. I was just glad to be surrounded by other students who are passionate about journalism,” Kykendall said.

Dupree, The Hawkeye’s freestyle editor and junior psychology major, won ninth place for opinion writing at the “Best of the South” awards and followed it up with a second-place finish for the on-site copyediting category.

She said although she was happy to be honored there’s a lot more left to achieve as a group.

“We did win individual awards, but we can do so much better. We want to provide our readers with the best paper. We will continue to strive to be the best not just to win awards, but for those who want to read our paper,” Dupree said.

The list of awards for the paper’s staff was rounded out by Kaitlin Maness, a junior communication major, and Prajal Prasai, a senior communication major.

Maness, The Hawkeye’s news editor, won fifth place for feature writing at the “Best of the South” awards ceremony.

The next day, Prasai, The Hawkeye’s editor-in-chief, won second place for the conference’s on-site news photography category.

Maness alongside Dupree were at their second SEJC. This time around both said they felt more comfortable being surrounded by student journalists like themselves. Maness agreed with Dupree in saying that there’s still a lot more work to be done.