TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Dateline Alabama, The University of Alabama’s student-run news web site in the College of Communication and Information Sciences, won top national honors over the weekend at the Society of Professional Journalists competition.

Dateline Alabama’s coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on America last year captured first place from the SPJ. The competition honors the best in college print, broadcast and online journalism.

Dateline Alabama’s coverage of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was cited by the SPJ as the best spot news story of 2001 by an independent collegiate news web site. Overall, Dateline Alabama was named one of the top three independent collegiate news web sites in the nation. The winner in that category was Northwestern University. The other finalist was Utah State University.

Also recognized as finalists in their categories were Major Highfield, creative director, as one of the top three in the feature story category and Brad Guire, editor of Crimson Comedy, as one of three finalists in the opinion writing category.

The awards were announced on Saturday, Sept. 14 at the national conference of the Society of Professional Journalists in Ft. Worth, Texas.

“I am extremely proud of the Dateline staff and all that they have accomplished,” said Jim Stovall, faculty adviser to the site. “I am especially happy that the people who worked on the site during the horrific events of Sept. 11 were recognized for their efforts.”

Dateline Alabama began in Feb. 2000 and is produced by a staff of more than 25 student editors and writers. The site uses work that is produced through journalism courses offered at UA.

The College of Communication & Information Sciences is among the largest and most prestigious communication colleges in the nation. C&IS is consistently ranked among the top 10 in number of doctoral degrees awarded and in many of its research programs. C&IS graduates have won four of the six Pulitzer Prizes awarded to University of Alabama alumni, and the forensics and debate squad, housed within the College, has garnered 14 national championships.