EAST LANSING, Mich. – Two entries from students at the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University were named national finalists in the Society of Professional Journalists' 2009 Mark of Excellence awards competition. This means they either won second or third prize in the nation in their respective categories.
The first winner is in the category of online in-depth reporting. Honored were Sarah Coefield, Elisabeth Pernicone, Yang Zhang and Rachael Gleason for "Cleaning Coal," an in-depth project which was published in Great Lakes Echo, an online environmental news service produced by the Knight Center in the MSU School of Journalism.
The second entry won in the category of television in-depth reporting. Honored were Sarah Coefield, Mary Hansen and Marla Kalbach for an environmental documentary, "The Night Shift," which was broadcast on WKAR-TV in June 2009. This documentary about research on owls was overseen by Lou D'Aria, a video instructor at the Knight Center.
"Knight Center students have now won 11 regional and national journalism awards this year," said Knight Center Director Jim Detjen. "Overall, our students have now won more than 35 regional and national journalism prizes. We are especially pleased they were honored in two categories of in-depth reporting, which we emphasize in our journalism classes at MSU."
More than 3,600 entries were submitted in the SPJ competition this year.
The prizes will be awarded at the national SPJ convention in Las Vegas, Nev., on Oct. 4.
The Knight Center is the nation's leading center for educating students and professional journalists to report and write about environmental issues. Founded in 1999 with a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the center has educated thousands of journalists and students from around the world.