by Crystal Apilado
Staff Writer
La Verne Magazine, written by University of La Verne students, received top honors from the Society of Professional Journalists in its regional Mark of Excellence competition.
As part of the Region XI conference, articles from La Verne Magazine and Campus Times were submitted to compete against universities from California, Nevada, Hawaii, Guam and the Mariana Islands.
La Verne Magazine staff writers swept the Non-Fiction Article category in this year’s competition. Seniors Erin Grycel received first place, Jeanette Neyman received second place and Stacie N. Galang received third place.
The wins positioned the magazine to receive first place as Best Student Magazine (published more than once a year) category. The biannual publication previously garnered a General Excellence award in the 1998 Marks of Excellence competition.
In the newspaper feature writing category, senior Araceli Esparza took third place for her feature article about Jane Dibbell she wrote in last semester’s Campus Times.
According to Mark Scarp, the Region XI representative, the competition is a way to help prepare students for a career in the writing business. Students can put down that they received recognition for their work on their resumé.
“Your work was judged to be the best of your region, and that looks good,” said Scarp.
The first-place winners of the regional competition will be entered in the National Marks of Excellence competition. There they will compete against the first-place winners of the the other regions. There are 12 designated regions in the competition.
“It’s an incredible feeling to be the best in the Western region, said Dr. George Keeler, professor of journalism. “It shows we have very talented writers and there was not a weak link.
“It shows we are doing a lot of things right in everything. No one can touch us,” he said.
“They pick the best of the best,” said Scarp.
There are still categories in the competitions that have yet to be judged. According to Scarp, the entries of the region are sent to judges of another region to be judged, but the entries have been late. Judges have had about two weeks to read over the entries that have already arrived.
“Entries are still arriving,” said Scarp.
“We were thrilled,” Galang said. “Knowing that we competed against much larger universities and came out on top is a boost for the magazine and for me personally.”
