Jason Wiese | Culture Editor
Tuesday, April 19; 10:30 a.m.

Several Lindenwood communications students came home with Mark of Excellence awards at Society of Professional Journalists Region 7 conference.

Michelle Sproat, a frequent contributor to Lindenwood’s news station, LUTV, and written publications, Lindenwood Legacy and Lindenlink.com, won for television sports photography (“Lindenwood men’s water polo hosts tournament“) and television general news reporting (“Yik Yak takes Lindenwood by storm.”

Another LUTV reporter, Caitlin Baker, won for television in-depth reporting for her story, “Ending heroin addiction.” Kristine Gipperich was a finalist for the same category for “Body of Jane Doe exhumed.”

Current Lindenwood Legacy managing editor Phil Scherer won for sports writing (small college) for “From palm trees to cobblestone,” a feature writing piece about Jesse Scroggins, a football quarterback who transferred to LU from Southern California.

Phil Brahm, managing editor of Lindenlink was a finalist for the best use of multimedia category for his piece, “Road work will cause delays on major route along Lindenwood campus.”

Brahm, along with former Lindenwood Legacy editor-in-chief Emily Adair and the staff of Lindenlink, were finalists for best associated website. Current Lindenwood Legacy editor-in-chief Viktoria Muench won gneral news reporting (small college) for her story “Dorm keys raise security concerns.”

The annual conference rewards reporters from for their achievements in journalism the previous year. This year’s conference, held in Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday, April 16, also recognized the efforts put out by many college students in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska.