Over the past year, Southern Miss Student Media took home several awards from state and regional journalism conferences and competitions.

These awards came from the Mississippi Press Association, the Southeastern Journalism Conference’, and the Mississippi Broadcast Association.

The Mississippi Press Association is a charity that provides scholarships and internships to journalism students in Mississippi. They host the Better Newspaper Contest twice a year.

The BNC is a state-wide competition where Mississippi newspapers compete in a series of categories. The Student Division is exclusively for college newspapers.

At the 2023 awards, SM2 took home 9 wins. In addition to 8 individual awards, The Student Printz came second in Best Web Site.

Over the past year, SM2 won 13 awards across several state and regional competitions.

SM2’s Editor-in-Chief and winner of four BNC awards, Abigail Troth, is proud of her work overall. “I’ve enjoyed my time at SM2 so much. I can’t even begin to describe how much I’ve grown and developed my skills,” she said in a statement. “I’ve become a better writer, photographer, and journalist altogether. I’m proud of who I’ve become.”

Another winner, sports writer Dima Mixon, also reflected on his time at SM2. “I am truly honored to receive awards for my work at SM2. There are so many people I could thank, and my time at SM2 has been an absolutely incredible experience. I wouldn’t change it for the world and it’s been amazing working and excelling at the sports coverage at Southern Miss Student Media.”

The Southeast Journalism Conference is an academic organization of student news outlets from colleges and universities across the region. Every year, members of SEJC submit entries to the Best of the South competition to recognize achievements in student journalism.

This year, 3 members of SM2 took home individual awards.

The Mississippi Broadcast Association represents the majority of television and radio broadcasters in the state.

This year, the finalists for Student Broadcaster of the Year include Amaya Norman, SM2 reporter and anchor.

The results of these awards will be revealed in the fall.

At the time of publication, SM2 will have published its final newspaper and episodes for the 2023 to 2024 school year. For many of the students listed as winners this year, this is their final year at SM2 before they graduate from college. For others, it was their first time working for the paper.

SM2’s staff totals about 45-60 students per year across all departments: content, radio, SMTV, and stratcom.

Dr. Edgar Simpson is the director of the School of Media and Communications at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Simpson expressed great pride for SM2’s staff and their achievements. “I think what the awards show is that our program stands up against the best in Mississippi, and the best across the south,” he said. “I think we can argue that.”

“And it shows that our students are doing good work, and that when they do that good work it is recognized,” he added.