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ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ alumnus Al Drago ’15 and juniors Alex Simon and Leena Dahal were named national winners in the 2015 Society of Professional Journalist competition.

Drago, a photojournalist for Roll Call, captured top honors in General News Photography  (Small School Division—defined as 9,999 students or fewer) for a photo titled and in Sports Photography (Small School Division) for a photo titled Additionally, Drago was named a national finalist in Breaking News Photography for his photo “It’s Getting Hot in Here.”

Simon, the sports editor of The Pendulum and a journalism major, won in Sports Writing (Small School Division) for a story about how the ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ football team was mentally and emotionally dealing with the sudden death of one of its players.

Dahal, a strategic communications major, was recognized as the national winner in General Column Writing (Small School Division) for three of her columns: and

In addition to the winners, Alumna Katy Canada ’15 was named a national finalist in In-Depth Reporting (Small School Division) for “

The national winners and finalists will be acknowledged at the Excellence in Journalism Conference Sept. 18-20 in New Orleans.

Prior to this year’s winners, ÂÒÂ×ÊÓƵ student work has earned nine other first-place awards since 2010. This includes three national wins in photography competitions from Drago last year and another from senior Michael Bodley for Breaking News Reporting.