Students at the University of Alabama took home 13 awards from the regional Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence Awards.

The conference, hosted on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, saw members of UA’s journalism community win five first place awards.

For the second year in row, The Crimson White won first place in the category of “Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper” in the Southeast.

The University won four Mark of Excellence awards last year, two of which ranked first place.

“It’s been really exciting to watch The Crimson White develop over the past two years,” Victor Luckerson, the paper’s editor-in-chief said. “I think we’ve seen the depth and quality of the writing increase steadily, and that’s reflected in the large number of awards we were able to win this year.”

The newspaper won several awards for print coverage of April’s tornado and issues such as the segregation of parts of greek culture, but also performed well in digital media.

“It’s also great to receive recognition in areas such as photography and web design,” Luckerson said. “Excelling in those areas shows how we’ve increased in versatility and really worked to improve every aspect of the publication. I feel like I work with some of the most talented and hardest working student journalists in the country, and I think our increasing number of regional and national awards reflects that.

The Crimson White’s managing editor, Jonathan Reed, also recently placed seventh in the Multimedia III category of the national Hearst Awards, which is one of the highest honors given to student journalists. UA is a member of SPJ’s Region 3, which includes universities in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.

The first place winners of every category from every region now advance to the national Mark of Excellence contest, the winners of which will be announced at the SPJ National Convention in Fort Lauderdale in September.

The campus chapter of SPJ will recognize UA’s award winners Thursday, April 12 at 7 p.m.

The List of Awards

Tray Smith, First Place, Editorial Writing, The Crimson White

The Crimson White Staff, First Place, Best All-Around Daily Student Newspaper

John Michael Simpson, First Place, Sports Photography, The Crimson White

Bradley Whittington, First Place, Television Breaking News Reporting, WVUA News

Matt McCoy, First Place, Television General News Reporting, WVUA News Jonathan Reed, Kelsey Stein, Hannah Mask and William Evans, First Place, Feature Writing, The Crimson White

Taylor Holland, Jonathan Reed, Kelsey Stein, Hannah Mask, First Place, Breaking News Reporting, The Crimson White

The Crimson White Staff, Second Place, Best Affiliated Web Site

Caitlin Trotter, Second Place, Feature Photography, The Crimson White

Drew Hoover, Second Place, Breaking News Photography, The Crimson White Erich Hilkert, Second Place, General Column Writing, The Crimson White

Dominique Bivins, Third Place, Radio News Reporting, Alabama Public Radio Will Tucker, Stephen Dethrage, Jonathan Reed, Amanda Sams, Third Place, In-depth Reporting, The Crimson White