Society of Professional Journalists names Carolina Connection Best All-Around Radio Newscast for fourth consecutive year

The Society of Professional Journalists has named the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media's Carolina Connection winner of the Best All-Around Radio Newscast in the annual SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards. The radio show, produced by Hussman School students, will be recognized at SPJ's annual conference Sept. 18-20, 2016, in New Orleans.

Louis Fernandez '16 was named a national finalist in the Radio Feature category for his feature, "Archaeologists Uncover History in Morganton." Maddie Gardner '16 was also named a national finalist in the Television General News Reporting category for her piece, "Text Neck."

Carolina Connection has won the SPJ Mark of Excellence Award in the Best All-Around Radio Newscast category four years in a row and six of the past seven years. This year, it won for its Feb. 14, 2015, episode.

Carolina Connection is a radio news magazine that airs on WCHL, 97.9 FM or 1360 AM, Saturday mornings at 8:30 a.m. Stream the show.

"The program that won the award was from the week of the Finley Forest shooting," says Adjunct professor Adam Hochberg, who leads the program and has instructed it since Fall 2008. "As anyone who was on campus knows, it was a difficult and emotional week for the UNC community. I'm exceptionally proud of our students for producing a program that was informative, sensitive and thoughtful. They worked under deadline pressure to stay on top of a story that was making international news, as they themselves were mourning the loss of three young people in the community, whom some of our students knew personally."

The Mark of Excellence Awards, honoring the best in collegiate journalism, are presented annually by the SPJ. The awards offer categories for newspapers, magazines, arts/graphics, radio, television and online. Entries are first judged on a regional level, and first place winners at the regional level advance to the national competition. Click here for a full list of winners.

SPJ works to improve and protect journalism and is dedicated to the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior.