The Belmont Vision newsroom racked up 22 awards at the 2023 Southeast Journalism Conference at Nicholls State University on Thursday and Friday.
Of the 38 member schools, Belmont won 15 awards in the Best of the South competition, which included content posted on the Vision website from November 2021 to November 2022.
Such awards include first place for best public service journalism and third place for best college website.
Vision News Network also won third for best video newscast.
“I’m incredibly proud of the team of student journalists. They do incredibly professional work, and I’m so glad they got recognized,” said Vision faculty adviser Dorren Robinson.
Best of the South
Camden Morris won first place for best television news reporter.
Finn Birnie won first place for best TV feature reporter.
Anna Jackson won second place for opinion writing and third for feature writing.
Landen Secrest won second place for special event reporting.
Sarah Maninger won third place for best news writer.
David Pang won fifth place for best feature writer.
Lillie Burke won fifth place for best a&e writer.
Isaac Wetzel won sixth place for best photographer.
Meagan Irby won seventh for best a&e writer.
A.J. Wuest won seventh for best sports writer.
Hanley Riggs won seventh for best TV journalist.
Former Vision editor-in-chief Sarah Maninger, who wrote a series of articles and recorded a podcast during Suicide Prevention and Awareness Week, helped the squad achieve first place for public service journalism.
“I’m happy that our team got recognized for public service journalism but I would not have been able to write those stories without the support of the amazing team at the Vision,” she said. “And that topic is especially so important, so I’m glad it got recognized.”
On Friday, while in Thibodaux, Louisiana, Vision senior staff members also competed in on-site competitions spanning over a dozen categories and won seven awards.
On-site
Landen Secrest won first place in the category of sports photography.
Camden Morris and Chandler Maynard won first place for TV news reporting.
Gracie Anderson won first for radio news reporting.
Lilly Owens won second in the a&e category.
Katie Beth Cannon won third for TV anchoring.
A.J. Wuest won honorable mention in feature writing.
Melody Scott won honorable mention in copy editing.
Overall, the Vision placed second in on-site competition.
“I’m just really proud of what we were able to do and that our work got recognized,” Maninger said.