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Images from the 2019 SEJC convention at MTSU


The 33rd Southeast Journalism Conference Convention at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Feb. 14-16, 2019, drew a near-record 333 faculty and students from 32 schools. There were 183 awards presented at the Best of the South Awards Banquet on Friday, Feb. 15. The 2018 BOTS competition drew 442 entries from 31 schools.
—Photos by Robert Buckman

Phil Williams, veteran investigative reporter for NewsChannel 5 in Nashville, was the keynote speaker for the Best of the South Awards Banquet in the MTSU Student Union ballroom on Friday, Feb. 15. Williams confided he had considered joining the ministry “to go out and save the world,” but that he found “the same ends through journalism. . . Part of my message to you is that you can change the world. Never lose touch with that idea.” A member of the board of Investigative Reporters and Editors, he recounted several of his investigative reports that he said he felt made a difference—and sent “dozens” of people to prison. “If I don’t do it, who will?” he said he told his cameraman after Williams had received death threats. “If you don’t do it, who will?” he challenged the 300 journalism students in the audience. “If you don’t give voice to the voiceless, who will? Tonight I applaud the idealism that brought you here. Don’t ever give up on it.”
—Photo by Robert Buckman

Kaleb A. Turner, editor of The Bison at Harding University in Searcy, Ark., was named College Journalist of the Year in the Best of the South competition for 2018. With him is Harding’s faculty delegate, Katherine Ramirez.
—Photo by Robert Buckman
Patricia Thompson, left, of the University of Mississippi, was this year’s recipient of the Journalism Educator of the Year Award, announced by Amber Narro of Southeastern Louisiana University.
—Photo by Robert Buckman

Faculty delegates approved several changes to the SEJC constitution at the business luncheon on Feb. 15. Troy State University in Troy, Ala., was selected to host the 2021 convention. Katherine Ramirez of Harding University, immediate past president, presided over the meeting.
—Photos by Robert Buckman

Christine Eschenfelder, who brought more than a dozen years of experience in local TV news when she joined the MTSU faculty in 2015, spoke to students about “finding characters that resonate with an audience.” She offered video examples of compelling human interest stories and explained how she went about developing them.
—Photos by Robert Buckman

Most of the convention activities took place in MTSU’s impressive Student Union.
—Photo by Robert Buckman

The newspaper exchange is a SEJC tradition, allowing each school to show off its journalistic wares and to borrow ideas from other schools.
—Photos by Robert Buckman



SEJC President Leon Alligood delivered the convention “benediction” at the conclusion of the onsite awards luncheon on Saturday, Feb. 16. “We’re never going to be paid what we should be paid. We’re never going to work an 8-5 job,” he told students. “What you will have is something to look back on and say, ‘I was a part of that. My life will mean something.’” The next convention will be at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, Feb. 13-15, 2020.
—Photo by Robert Buckman

Rutherford County’s antebellum courthouse is an architectural jewel—and especially beautiful at night.
—Photo by Robert Buckman