TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- University of Alabama student journalists had the most first place winners and won the Sweepstakes Award in the Mark of Excellence (MOE) Competition held on Saturday, March 27, at the Society of Professional Journalists Region 3 Convention in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

UA produced 10 first place winners. Second place went to Florida with seven, and third place went to Florida A&M University with six. First place winners advance to the national MOE in New York on Sept. 11. All entries were published, posted or broadcast in 2003.

The staffs of DatelineAlabama.Com and DatelinePickens.Com, online news services of the UA College of Communication and Information Sciences, dominated the online competition with five first place awards among its 17 awards. Staff members of The Crimson White, the UA student newspaper, captured three first places with eight total awards, and UA broadcast students had two first place finishes among its five awards.

Major Highfield, a senior in journalism from Centre, Ashley Chaffin, a senior in public relations from Birmingham, and the late Dr. Bailey Thomson, UA professor of journalism, were editors of the Dateline sites for the contests period. Editors of the CW were Stacy Whitlow of of Ponchatoula, La., and Chris Sanders, a senior from Smoke Rise. Tiffany Schwarz, a junior from Tuscaloosa, is SPJ president and chairman of the awards committee.

First Place Winners

• Dateline Alabama Staff, Online Spot News Reporting for coverage of firing of Coach Mike Price
• Online Feature Reporting, Kim Cross, graduate student, Tuscaloosa, for feature on Pickens County music house and dance hall
• Online In-Depth Reporting, Mike Lowe (senior, Midfield), Major Highfield, Danny Hanbery (senior, Decatur) for coverage of 40th Anniversary of UA Stand in Schoolhouse Door
• Dateline Alabama Staff, Online Opinion and Commentary, Danny Hanbery and Dennis Pillion, senior from Birmingham, opinion editors
• Dateline Alabama.Com, Best All-Around Independent Online Student Publication
• Mahout, Crimson White’s back to school magazine, Magazine Published Once a Year
• Luisa Morenilla, senior, Huntsville, Spot News Photography, Crimson White
• Laura Shill, senior, Tuscaloosa, Photo Illustration, Crimson White
• Meredith Wood, junior, Oxford, Television Spot News Reporting
• John Huddleston, senior, Hoover, Television Sports Photography

Other Winners

• Will Nevin, junior, Moundville, Editorial Writing, Third (tie)
• Mac Baugher, sophomore, Athens, and Trey Brannon, junior, Mobile, Editorial Cartooning, Third
• Kim Cross, In-Depth Reporting, Second
• Luisa Morenilla, Feature Photography, Honorable Mention
• Laura Shill, Photo Illustration, Second
• Laura Shill, Sports Photography, Third
• Mandie Trimble, senior, Tuscaloosa, Radio Spot News Reporting, Second; Robert Puppione, senior, Castro Valley, Calif., Honorable Mention
• Mandie Trimble, Radio Feature, Honorable Mention
• Mike Lowe, Second, Online Spot News Reporting; Lance Orr, graduate student, Tuscaloosa, Third
• Patrick Beeson, graduate student, Tuscaloosa, second place, Online General News Reporting; Lance Orr, Third
• Lance Orr, Second, Online Feature Reporting; Emily Patterson, graduate student, Tuscaloosa, Third
• Dateline Alabama Staff, Second and Third, Online In-Depth Reporting
• Lance Orr, Online Sports Reporting, Honorable Mention
• Dateline Alabama, Online Opinion and Commentary, Third
• DatelinePickens.Com, Best All-Around Independent Online Student Publication, Second