Southeastern students win Mark of Excellence Awards
Contact: Tonya Lowentritt
Date: April 9, 2013 
MARK OF EXCELLENCE AWARDS - Southeastern Louisiana University television and print students recently won seven 2012 Mark of Excellence Awards at the annual Society of Professional Journalists Region 12 convention in Oxford, Miss. The Southeastern Channel student newscast, "Northshore News," won "Best All-Around Television Newscast" in the region. Shown from left are Rick Settoon, Southeastern Channel general manager; Damon Cutno, second place for "Television Sports Reporting;" John Reis, "Northshore News" supervisor; Chrissy Carter, second and third place for "Television News Photography;" Allen Cutrer, second place for "Television Feature Photography;" Christopher Martin of the "Lion's Roar," third place for "Sports Photography;" and Lee Lind, director of Student Publications. Not shown is Marshall Courtney, first place for "Television Feature Photography."
HAMMOND – Students at Southeastern Louisiana University's cable television station and student
newspaper won seven 2012 Mark of Excellence awards at the annual Society of Professional
Journalists Region 12 spring conference held recently in Oxford, Miss.
Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ)
promotes the free flow of information and works to inspire and educate the next generation
of journalists. This year's event received almost 4,000 entries from all universities
in Region 12, comprised of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee.
Students at the Southeastern Channel, the university's educational cable station,
won six television awards, the most of any university competing. The awards included
first place for "Best Overall Television Newscast" for the channel's student news
show Northshore News. The channel also won first place for "Television Feature Photography"
for the "Old Town Soda Shop" feature story shot by student videographer Marshall Courtney
of Baton Rouge, also for Northshore News.
By virtue of winning first place regional awards, both Northshore News and Courtney
qualified for the national SPJ mark of Excellence competition to be held in late August
at the Excellence in Journalism 2013 National Convention in California, a joint endeavor
of the SPJ and the Radio Television Digital News Association.
Also receiving awards at the conference were:
-- Chrissy Carter of LaPlace, second and third place awards in the "Television
News Photography" category for videography for the "Texting While Parenting" and "Hurricane
Isaac Recovery" news stories she shot for Northshore News;
-- Allen Cutrer of Baton Rouge, second place for "Television Feature Photography"
for videography for the "Master Duck Carver" story he shot for Northshore News;
-- Damon Cutno of LaPlace, second place for "Television Sports Reporting"
for the segment "Saints vs. Chargers Analysis" he produced and reported for the student
sportscast for The Big Game; and
-- Christopher Martin of Albany, third place for "Sports Photography" for
his photography for the story "Making a Statement" for The Lion's Roar student newspaper.
"The Mark of Excellence Award is one of the most prestigious in student journalism,
and we're thrilled that our students continue to win top awards," said Southeastern
Channel general manager Rick Settoon. "This is well-deserved recognition for their
talent and excellent work ethic and reflects the outstanding training they receive
from channel staff members and instructors in the Department of Languages and Communication."
