Sidelines’ West tops features competition

Sidelines Editor-in-chief Emily West won the Best Feature Writing competition Friday, Feb. 21, at the 2014 Southeast Journalism Conference, meeting this year in Lafayette, La., with the University of Louisiana-Lafayette the host school.

Emily West with Sidelines adviser Leon Alligood

West’s first-place finish was in one of the most competitive events of the competition. In addition, the Sidelines website received 7th place in the Best Website contest.

West submitted three features as a body of work. The first was “Looking for a hero like me” about the lack of diversity in children’s books. The second was “Fire forces pair to start over” about a senior couple in Cottontown, Tenn., who lost everything in a summer fire. The third was “Santa Train rolls into mountain town lifting spirits, bearing toys,” which featured a train that delivers gifts and food to communities in the Appalachian Mountains at Christmastime.

Attending the conference, in addition to West, were: John Coulston, Claire Osburn, Bailey Robbins, Sam Brown, Quint Qualls, Cat Murphy, Matt Masters and Amanda Gambill. Assistant Professor Leon Alligood, who is the faculty adviser to Sidelines, accompanied the group to Louisiana. SEJC member schools come from nine states. TLE