Student Journalist Takes First in National Mark of Excellence Awards

Jonathan Glover, editor-in-chief of The Observer, won first place in the Society of Professional Journalists National Mark of Excellence Awards with his photo of a Black Lives Matter protest on campus last year. The photo won the breaking news photography category against university newspapers with enrollment of more than 10,000 students.

"The protest marked the first time Black Lives Matter issues had come to prominence at Central," Glover said. "What the photo showed was the divide between administration and students and the frustration that was brewing underneath. ... It’s rare to capture both sides of an issue in frame, and even more so, to capture the raw emotion of each subject."

The Observer is a student-run newspaper published in print and online. Glover's photo also won first place in SPJ's Region 10, which includes universities in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, and Alaska. The regional win qualified him for the national awards competition.

The national winners will be acknowledged during the Excellence in Journalism 2016 conference in September in New Orleans.

Check out Glover's winning photo and the rest of the 2015 winners and finalists at SPJ.org.

May 17, 2016