ORONO – The Maine Campus, the University of Maine’s student newspaper, collected a first place and two second place awards in a regional collegiate competition in April in Stamford, Conn.

In the Society of Professional Journalists’ Region 1 Mark of Excellence Awards competition, the UMaine twice-weekly newspaper picked up first place for Best All Around Non-Daily Newspaper and a pair of second place awards for Spot News and In-Depth Reporting for stories written in 2004.

The first place award for Best Newspaper was an overall award. The spot news award was for the story, “Bumstock Security Investigation,” written by Rick Redmond. A team effort led to the award for in-depth reporting for a series, “Race and Diversity at UMaine,” by writers Tracy Collins, Jackie Farwell, Redmond and Matt Shaer.

The Maine Campus shares Region 1 with colleges and universities in New England, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Other Region 1 finalists included Penn State, Yale, Quinnipiac, Northeastern, Norwich, Boston, Syracuse, Hofstra, Fordham, Rowan and Southern Connecticut State universities; Emerson, Ithaca, Smith, Boston, Mercy Hurst, Lyndon State, Lebanon Valley and Washington and Jefferson colleges, and Indiana State University of Pennsylvania and University of Hartford.

“There was some pretty stiff competition from some pretty big schools,” said Redmond of Old Town, who was news editor last year at The Maine Campus. Prizes were awarded on articles and newspaper samples from 2004. “It doesn’t matter how big the university is. It’s the talent and dedication of your staff. It’s inspiring that we can compete and hold our own in the big leagues.”

The Maine Campus typically is staffed by 30-40 students serving as writers, editors, photographers, artists, production personnel and advertising salespeople. Many, but not all, are journalism majors, according to Redmond.

Some, for instance, bring skills from sales and marketing classes, or photography. The newspaper pays some staff members and others volunteer their services as a way to get experience in the newspaper business, Redmond said.

Winning awards “looks great for the university, and it’s something writers can put in their resumes,” Redmond said. “The writers and photographers work hard all year, and it’s rewarding to get some recognition for that.”

The newspaper is managed entirely by students. While there is an advisory board, which includes faculty from the UMaine Department of Communication and Journalism, there is no faculty or administration oversight.

Students learn their journalism skills from journalism courses and from each other, said Redmond, a member of the Class of 2005 who most recently has been the news director for WMEB student radio on campus.

John Sherblom, chairman of the communications and journalism department, said reporters and editors at the student newspaper learn the fundamentals of writing and reporting from classes that cover topics including ethics, fairness, accuracy and objectivity, in addition to basics of news reporting.

“I’m impressed with the awards,” Sherblom said, “but I wasn’t surprised when I saw the names. They’ve all done good writing.”

A list of award winners and categories is listed on the Web at http://spj.org/region1/moe/.

Regional finalists now advance to a broader national competition to be held in Las Vegas in October, Redmond said.