Three students from the School of Mass Communication won first-place awards last weekend at the Society of Professional Journalists’ 2010 Region 12 Mark of Excellence contest. Region 12 includes universities from Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

Competing against student journalists and broadcasters from the University of Tennessee, Ole Miss, LSU, and others, Kristin Veasey-Knox of Little Rock, a radio, television, and film student, won first place in the Radio News category for her piece she produced for a KUAR-FM broadcast on the death of a Salvation Army worker killed at Christmas.

Veasey-Knox, a senior majoring in mass communication, is also one of four UALR students hired through the University’s Cooperative Education program as a video controller at the Arkansas House of Representatives.

Nathan Vandiver of North Little Rock, also a mass communication senior, won first place for Radio Feature for a piece titled “Homeless Day Care.” Chris Holloway won second place for his radio feature, “Osborne Cleans Up Cemetery.

Vandiver also won a second place in radio news with his story, “Place: Audubon Arkansas Builds New Nature Center.”