The Society of Professional Journalists has announced the winners of the 1997 Mark of Excellence Awards for outstanding student journalism.

“College and university journalism is where many of this country’s outstanding journalists first begin to show their skills,” said SPJ President Fred Brown, political editor at the Denver Post. “The Mark of Excellence contest recognizes these up-and-comers and provides the kind of experience that good reporters are going to enjoy over and over again.”

The award for best radio newscast went to the KCSN News staff at California State University-Northridge and LSC-TV/News Center 2 at Lyndon State College took top honors as best television newscast. Newspapers at the University of Washington and Eastern Kentucky State University received the awards for best daily and non-daily newspapers. Moorhead State University’s Axis Magazine was awarded best student magazine published once a year.

For the third straight year, The Burr of Kent State University was cited as the best student magazine published more than once a year.

Each winner had to survive regional judging with the top three entries in each region earning regional honors and the first-place winner of each moving on to national competition. Students will accept their awards during the Society’s national convention, Oct. 22-24, in Los Angeles, Calif.

A complete list of winners in the 28 categories follows. Honored for their accomplishments in 1997 are the following students:

Newspaper

Editorial Writing: J. Jioni Palmer and Adam Yamaguchi, UCLA

Editorial Cartooning: Brian Fairrington, Arizona State University

Column Writing: James Thomas, Florida A&M University

Spot News Reporting: Patrick Kerkstra, Edina Lekovic and Marie Blanchard, UCLA

In-Depth Reporting: Geoff Beeman, Britta Gaupp, Kara Klotz, Mark Lee, Joel MacDougall, Alicia Manley, Stephanie Merle, Kristi Shettle and Dave Whelan, Pacific Lutheran University

Feature Writing: Jennifer Lugowski, California State University-Fresno

Sports Writing: Kara Shire, Arizona State University

Best All Around Daily Student Newspaper: The Daily of the University of Washington

Best All Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper: The Eastern Progress, Eastern Kentucky University

Magazine

Non-Fiction Article: Jennifer Littleton, University of Florida

Best Student Magazine-Published once a year: Axis Magazine, Moorhead State University

Best Student Magazine-More than once per year: The Burr Magazine, Kent State University

Photography

Spot News Photography: Jonathan Kirshner, Western Kentucky University

Feature Photography: Kenei Sato, University of Minnesota

Sports Photography: Brian Totin, Syracuse University

Radio

Spot News Reporting: Francesca March and Mimi Kite, California State University-Northridge

Feature: Tracy Sadeghian, University of Missouri

In-Depth Reporting: Cameron L. Kline, University of Illinois

Sports Reporting: Christine Suarez, California State University-Northridge

Newscast: KCSN News Staff, California State University-Northridge

Television

Spot News Reporting: Ned Roberts, Northwestern University

Feature: Adam Levine, Betsy Webster and Joanna Kakissis, University of Missouri

In-Depth Reporting: Peter Alexander, Northwestern University

Sports Reporting: Rick Lord, Arizona State University

News Photography: None Awarded

Feature Photography: Craig Stevens and Will Blakley, Colorado State University

Sports Photography: Dennis A. Black, Marshall University

Newscast: LSC-TV/News Center 2, Lyndon State College