TCU Student Publications received 18 Mark of Excellence Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists for news media coverage in Texas and Oklahoma. The awards were presented Friday during the Region 8 SPJ Spring Conference held at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

The Daily Skiff was awarded third place in the best daily student newspaper category, along with DailySkiff.com receiving a third-place award for best affiliated student publication website. “TCU News Now” was named the third-best all-around student television newscast.

In addition, four TCU students won first place in the Mark of Excellence Awards at the conference. Skiff multimedia editor Matt Coffelt won for best photo illustration, Skiff columnist Christi Aldridge, for best general column writing, News Now reporter Maddy Foxx for TV In-Depth Reporting, and News Now reporter Kim Little placed first in TV feature photography. All four winners will now advance to the national round of competition on Sept. 25-27 in New Orleans, La.

Other individual winners include:

• Chris Blake, second place, television sports reporting; second place, online sports

reporting; third place, newspaper sports writing, daily newspapers; and third

place, television sports reporting.

• Kayla Mezzell, second place, general news reporting, daily newspapers

• Katie Love, second place, online news reporting

• Courtney Jay, second place, television in-depth reporting

• Matt Coffelt, third place, general news photography, daily newspapers

• Julie Susman, third place, breaking news photography, daily newspapers

• Caroline Hardwick, third place, feature photography, daily newspapers

• Chance Welch, third place, photo illustration daily newspapers