The Kentucky Kernel attended its first Southeast Journalism Conference (SEJC) in Troy, Alabama, from Feb. 23 through Feb. 25, taking home 17 awards.
The event featured award ceremonies, keynote speakers, in-person sessions and on-site competitions, all of which tested the knowledge of multimedia journalism for participating students in a timely manner.
Kernel Editor-in-Chief Hannah Stanley said the on-site competitions were a great opportunity to see where the staff is with their skills but also humbling when working on a one- to two-hour deadline to create and publish a story, photo gallery or multimedia element.
“I’m very happy with how well we did in those specific categories and think that there’s still room for improvement, but we are on the right track,” Stanley said.
Ryan Craig, student media advisor for the University of Kentucky, said SEJC appealed to him because the Kernel has never participated in anything like this before.
“The true thing that we learned from it is that it’s much more difficult on a deadline,” Craig said.
Craig said SEJC is a great experience for students to practice deadline assignments and give them an ounce of real-world journalism experience, but he wants to push students even more with deadlines since the Kernel has become a multimedia platform.
“You can win most of the awards, you can be as good as you possibly can be, but if you don’t have anything to improve on then you’re probably not looking to improve,” he said.
On Feb. 24, SEJC hosted an award ceremony based on submitted work from a given SEJC deadline, proving to be the most successful night for both the Kernel and KRNL Lifestyle + Fashion.
Across 22 SEC schools and 27 different award categories, Kernel media won 15 first-place awards, one third-place award and one fifth-place award. For the on-site competitions, the Kernel won one first-place award and five second-place awards.
“I think we went into this competition in the mindset of one not wanting to be there because it wasn’t the most appealing,” Stanley said. “I think we walked out of it a lot more appreciative to have different feedback and categories that aren’t just our normal ones which we compete in every single year.”
Bryce McNeil, student media coordinator for Kernel media and SEJC treasurer since 2017, complemented the Kernel’s success in their first attendance at the conference.
“The Kernel did exceedingly well in the best of the South competition … exceedingly well. I lost count of the first-place awards, it was extremely exciting,” McNeil said.
McNeil said he heard praise from other professors and advisors at the event, leaving some just as impressed as McNeil by the awards won.
“I am so proud as an advisor to the Kernel that I can’t quite articulate it in a pithy manner but happy and proud,” McNeil said.
List of Kentucky Kernel SEJC award winners:
Best Public Service Journalism
1st place: Staff
Best Newspaper
1st place: Staff
Best Audio Program
1st place: Staff
Best Website
3rd place: Staff
Best News Writer
1st place: Rayleigh Deaton
Best Special Event Reporter or Editor
1st place: Hannah Stanley
Best Photographer
1st place: Abbey Cutrer
Best Newspaper Designer
1st place: Ahkila Nadimpalli
Best TV Feature Reporter
1st place: Bryce Towle
Best Multimedia Journalist
1st place: Grant Grubbs
Journalist of the Year
1st place: Rayleigh Deaton
Best Arts & Entertainment Writer
5th place: Gray Greenwell
List of SEJC on-site competition award winners:
Arts & Entertainment Photography
1st place: Abbey Cutrer
Arts & Entertainment Radio
2nd place: Giana Gallo
Feature Television
2nd place: Bryce Towle
Feature Writing
2nd place: Rana Alsoufi
News Photography
2nd place: Matthew Mueller
News Radio
2nd place: Giana Gallo
List of KRNL Lifestyle + Fashion SEJC award winners:
Best Magazine Writer
1st place: Emma Reilly
Best Magazine
1st place: Staff
Best Magazine Designer
1st place: Hunter Grace Hayes
Best Advertising Staff Member
1st place: Bree Cox
Best Feature Writer
1st place: Rana Alsoufi
