Southeastern students shine at journalism conference

Representatives of Southeastern Louisiana University’s Department of Communications and Media Studies recently returned from the 2026 Southeast Journalism Conference at Georgia Highlands College in Cartersville, Ga., with awards in-hand. Held last month, the competition was attended by students representing all facets of Southeastern student media.

Receiving “Best of South” awards were Samantha Sims of Gretna, who obtained a 3rd place honor in the category of Research, and Yumi Domangue of Gramercy, who also garnered 3rd place in the Best Artist/Illustrator competition. Kendrick Allen of Slidell and Kristian Steilberg of Tickfaw tied for fifth place in the Best Television Feature Reporter category.

Southeastern Channel student employees were also honored in two SEC onsite competition categories. Lucas Hill of Baker and Jules Dormain of Denham Springs placed first in Television Sports, while Allen placed second in the Television News Package competition.

Also attending the conference were KLSU’s Darci Lourigan of Franklinton; Marissa Porter of Covington and Emma Loper of St. Rose with the Southeastern Channel; and Sean Hoffman of Gonzales with The Lion’s Roar.

SEJC is a primarily academic organization composed of member colleges and universities in all states across the Southeast, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. The organization was created to encourage greater interest in student journalism and to form closer ties among journalism schools in the Southeast United States.