Miami University students today picked up a record 10 first-place and nine finalist awards for 2020 journalism work entered in the prestigious Mark of Excellence competition. A total of 22 Miami students won recognition.

The awards – presented by the Society of Professional Journalists during a Saturday virtual conference – put Miami at No. 2 in SPJ’s Region 4 for 2020 MOEs.

Of the 12 schools that entered the annual regional competition, Michigan State University led with 23 with Kent State University finishing third with 12, University of Michigan at fourth with 10 and Ohio University at fifth with nine. 

“Miami students have once again shown the width and breadth of their talent,” said Journalism Program Area Coordinator Patricia Gallagher Newberry, adviser to Miami’s SPJ chapter and immediate past president of the national SPJ board. “In this most challenging of years for journalists, our students showed courage, imagination and true grit in going after stories that mattered.”

All first-place finishers will now compete for national SPJ recognition in the fall.

First-place wins

Miami picked up its 10 first-place awards in 10 different categories. The winners are current students unless otherwise noted:

• Owen Berg for Photo Illustration with “Miami slow to isolate sick students” in The Miami Student.
• Tim Carlin for Feature Writing (large campus) with “One year later: Delts hazing survivor tells his story” in The Miami Student.
• Ceili Doyle (class of 2020) for COVID-19 Coverage with “Coronavirus devastates Oxford businesses, City proposes stimulus program” in The Miami Student.
• Erin Glynn (class of 2020) for Non-Fiction Magazine Article with “Ai (爱) to Love and Ai (挨) to Suffer” in The Miami Student Magazine.
• Cora Harter, Maggie Smerdel and Cami Cicero for Best Student Magazine for “IGNITE” edition of UP fashion magazine.
• Caroline Haubenstricker for Breaking News Reporting (large campus) for “Students break quarantine to host party; OPD issues first gathering ban citation” in The Miami Student.
• Alessandra Manukian for Editorial Cartooning with three COVID-related illustrations for The Miami Student.
• Madeline Phaby for General Column Writing with “To my fellow leftists; No, my professors didn't brainwash me; Biden won, but we're far from done” in The Miami Student.
• Michael Vestey for Sports Column Writing for a selection of columns in The Miami Student.
• Chris Vinel for Sports Writing (large campus) for “When it ends like this, crying is allowed in baseball” in The Miami Student.

Finalist finishes

 Miami earned another nine finalist awards – the equivalent of second or third – in six different categories. The winners are current students unless otherwise noted:

• Zoey Becker, Tuo Meng and Chris Vinel for Online News Reporting with “Oxford Police, review commission look to break racial tension” for the “Black in Butler County” project on Medium.com.
• Tim Carlin for Sports Writing (large campus) for “Miami cheerleading is more than a team -- it’s a family” in The Miami Student.
• Lyndsey Carter and Abigail Kemper for COVID-19 Coverage with “Socially distant and socially awkward: Inside the freshman dorms” in The Miami Student.
• Jenna Calderón for Non-Fiction Magazine Article for “Remote and Removed” in Miami Quarterly magazine.
• Maya Fenter (class of 2020) for Feature Writing (large campus) for “Pageantry in a new era: Redefining liberation” in The Miami Student.
• Ally Gallagher for Online News Reporting for coverage of the Talawanda School District’s navigation of COVID-19 for The Oxford Observer.
• Lukas Nelson for Sports Writing (large campus) for “Lauren Dickerson cements her status as a Miami legend” in The Miami Student.
• Jessica Robinson for General Column Writing with a selection of humor columns in The Miami Student.
• Leanne Stahulak for Non-Fiction Magazine Article for  “Communication Crisis: Making the Pandemic Accessible for the Deaf Community” in Miami Quarterly magazine.

While Miami set a new record with its 2020 MOE recognitions, student journalists at Miami have enjoyed success for a number of years, with nine firsts and nine finalist entries for 2019, and a total of 10 awards each in 2016, 2017 and 2018.