ECU students win regional journalism awards
Greenville, NC — East Carolina University students have won four awards from the Southeast Journalism Conference, including the coveted College Journalist of the Year.
The students from ECU’s Office of Student Media were among winners recognized at a SEJC annual meeting held Feb. 11 to 13 at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, La.
The College Journalist of the Year Award went to Carlton Purvis for his work at The East Carolinian, ECU’s student-run newspaper.
Purvis was a copy editor and news editor at The East Carolinian. After graduating in December with a double major in journalism and anthropology, Purvis is a multimedia journalist at the Morning News in Florence, S.C. He is a Clarksville, Tenn., native who served in the U.S. Marines from 2004 to 2006.
Purvis received a $1,000 prize for the award, which the SEJC panel of media experts gave based on journalistic ability, leadership skills, appreciation for journalism’s ethical and legal responsibilities, and potential for future success, among other attributes.
Current news editor Samantha Hughes won second place in the SEJC on-site competition in the News Rewrite category. Hughes is a sophomore communication major from Fayetteville.
Editorial cartoonist Adrian Parhamovich placed fourth in the Best News-Editorial Artist-Illustrator category. Parhamovich is an art major with a concentration in animation and interactive design.
Expressions, ECU’s student-produced multicultural magazine, won sixth place in the Best College Magazine category. Chaunte Rucker, a business administration major, was 2009 general manager of Expressions. The winter/spring 2010 edition was printed and released this week.
This was the first year ECU has entered the SEJC competition. ECU was the only N.C. school to win awards at the conference. Hughes and Katelyn Crouse, editor of The East Carolinian, attended the conference, which included journalism workshops and discussions with more than 200 students across the Southeast.
The SEJC strives to encourage interest in student journalism and create closer ties among journalism schools in the Southeast United States.