Newspaper, Online and Magazine Awards and Recognition:

UWire, a membership organization for student media, recognized two KU J-School students, Rustin Dodd and Mark Dent, in its UWire 100. According to the UWire Web site, the UWire 100 represents “the 100 best student journalists in the country – hard workers, big thinkers and gifted storytellers – nominated by their peers and advisers for their potential to shape the media industry in the years ahead.” To read more on Rustin Dodd, Mark Dent and the UWire 100, visit www.uwire.com/UWIRE100/uwire100.html.

Winners of the national AEJMC Student Magazine Contest, which is organized by Carol Holstead, are:

• Consumer Magazine Article—Service and Information:
• First place: “Spring Tune-up,” by Josh Patterson
• Third place: “Culture Shock,” by Seongbae Cheon
• Consumer Magazine Article—Features:
• Honorable mention: “All’s Fair in LARP and War,” by Travis Brown
• Single Issue of an Ongoing Print Magazine—Design:
• Honorable mention: Jayplay, Brenna Hawley and Bryan Marvin, designers
• Start-up Magazine Project—Individual:
• First place: Stella, Kim Wallace
• Second place: LeSport, Chris Horn
• Third place: Entr’acte, Danae DeShazer
• Honorable mention: Dulcinaea, Taylor Miller

J.J. De Simone, master’s student, presented a paper he wrote for J801 in 2007, to the 2008 New York State Communication Association conference, which was held this weekend in Kerhonkson, NY. The paper was titled "Blogs and Fauxtography in the 2006 Israel/Hezbollah War: Were Traditional Media Frames Rejected?" He also won the "Top Graduate Paper" award, which included competition from other Master's and Ph.D. students.

Rhonda LeValdo, master’s student, was recently notified that the video she submitted for the YouTube Project: Report competition was selected as a top 10 semifinalist. The YouTube Project, in partnership with the Pulitzer Center, is a journalism contest for non-professional, aspiring journalists to tell stories that might not otherwise be covered by traditional media. Program details: http://youtube.com/projectreport

The University Daily Kansan won multiple awards last weekend from the Associated Collegiate Press at the National College Media Convention:

• Online Pacemaker award, four-year daily newspaper category
• Newspaper Pacemaker finalist, four-year daily category
• Third place, Best of Show award
• First place, Sports Story of the Year, Mark Dent
• Second place, Reporter of the Year, Mark Dent
• Honorable mention, News Story of the Year, Matt Erickson

Rhonda LeValdo, graduate student, was a runner-up in a YouTube competition, “YouTube Project: Report,” for aspiring journalists. Her video, “A Fight for the Land,” told the story of efforts to preserve the Haskell Baker Wetlands, an area of historical and cultural significance to Native Americans in Lawrence. The competition was offered in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in Washington, D.C. As a runner-up, LeValdo will travel to the Pulitzer Center when the grand prize is awarded and all semifinalists and finalists are honored Jan. 11-13. LeValdo was chosen as one of 10 semifinalists after the first round of competition for a video about her grandmother. In the second round, the semifinalists prepared a video about a story unfolding in a community that touches on a global theme or issue. LeValdo teaches television production at Haskell and produces “Native Spirit,” a weekly radio show on the KKFI 90.1 FM community radio station in Kansas City. Originally from New Mexico, she earned an associate’s degree in media arts at Haskell and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from KU in fall 2007. www.news.ku.edu/2008/november/26/wetlands.shtml

Patrick Luiz Sullivan de Oliveira, journalism senior, received eighth place and a $500 scholarship in the Editorial Writing category of the 49th annual William Randolph Hearst Foundation's Journalism Awards Program. KU received first place in the Intercollegiate Writing Competition, with the highest accumulated student points from the first two writing competitions of the academic year. The final winners will be named in April following the final writing competition. There were 98 students from 54 universities and colleges who participated in the latest writing competition. For samples of winning work, check the monthly winners section of the Journalism Awards' Web site, www.hearstawards.org, which is updated shortly after each competition.

Liz Schubauer and Scott Toland have accepted summer editing internships from the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund. Schubauer will be at the Kansas City Star and Toland at the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D. Adam Mowder turned down an offer and instead will be an editing intern at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Three other students were finalists: Melissa Johnson, Abby Olcese and Amanda Thompson. The internship program had more than 500 applicants this year and awarded 69 internships, down about a third from previous years.

Ford Foundation International Fellow and KU grad student, Denzyl Janneker, has been chosen from more than 200 applicants in a rigorous process to determine writers for the Midwest Voices slot in the Kansas City Star. Angela Palacioz, senior in journalism, was one of three outstanding KU Student Alumni Association leaders to receive a Judy L. Ruedlinger Award of $1,000 for spring 2009. The Judy L. Ruedlinger Award honors the first Student Alumni Association adviser, who was known by her students as “Judy Rudy.” The award was established to maintain commitment and involvement of past, present and future members of the Student Alumni Association at KU. The award is granted to those who convey pride in membership, public awareness of the Student Alumni Association and a sense of permanence, strength and integrity in the organization. Ideally, it also is meant to encourage Student Alumni Association members to join the KU Alumni Association after graduation and continue contact with the university. For more, see www.news.ku.edu/2008/december/12/judyrudy.shtml

Luke Morris, journalism senior, was invited to write an article, "Accepting the Challenge: Using the Web to Help Newspapers Survive," which appeared in the winter 2008 issue of Nieman Reports. Morris was invited to write the article after editors saw his blog, "Breaking Into Journalism. www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem.aspx?id=100677

Jesse Temple, graduate student, won the Suburban Newspapers of America Best Sports Writing award for "Casting A Wide 'Net," a feature story he wrote for David Guth’s J445 class in the fall of 2007. The article appeared in The Lawrence Journal-World.

Jonathan Goering, senior from Hesston, Kan., won third place in the photojournalism competition of the Hearst Journalism Awards Program. Entries in the second of three photojournalism competitions were in the categories of News and Sports. He received a $1,000 award, and the J-School will receive a matching grant. The winners of this contest were selected from among 69 entries submitted from 41 schools nationwide. The top four winners, along with the top four finalists in the other two photo competitions and two overall highest scorers, will submit additional photographs for the semi-final round of judging this June. Six finalists will be chosen from that round to compete in the program's National Photojournalism Championship, along with writing and broadcast finalists. 110 member universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs are eligible to participate in the Hearst competitions.

Broadcast Awards and Recognition:

Andrew Greenhaw, journalism senior, was an intern this summer in the Washington, D.C., bureau of Al Jazeera English, the Middle Eastern television network. He was an intern in the political unit, where he conducted research on U.S. presidential candidates, prepared information for programming directors and served as personal assistant to anchor Ghida Fakhry. www.news.ku.edu/2008/august/11/greenhaw.shtml

Students from J288 and J488 teamed up to broadcast the Kansas/Missouri volleyball game last week from the Horejsi Family Athletic Center. Kyle West, Alex Dufek and Kelly Breckunitch anchored the coverage. Greg Shippy and Nate Sito co-directed the broadcast. More than 15 students helped with the production. The students used the Wier remote production truck to tape the event. Terry Bryant and Cade Cruickshank also volunteered several hours of time to help with the production.

Lara Wilinsky, a senior graduating in May, is a video editor at ABC-TV in New York City. She will work on an ABC-TLC reality show called “Twins, Twins & Sextuplets,” which will begin airing on the TLC Channel in May.

Rhonda LeValdo, KU journalism graduate student and video production teacher at Haskell Indian Nations University, appeared on “Close Up at the Newseum” on Feb. 13 on C-SPAN2. She fielded questions from the audience on the challenges of being a Native American journalist. She is an Acoma Pueblo. Produced by the Close Up Foundation, “Close Up at the Newseum” has been seen nationally since 1979 and is one of the longest running public affairs programs involving young people in substantive discussions with expert guests. The producers invited more than 100 students from the National Indian Education Association and the United Southern and Eastern Tribes to be in the audience and participate in the one-hour program. A news video that LeValdo prepared for the PBS Online NewsHour was shown during the show. Her report focused on federal government funding for tribal schools and its effect on students at Haskell. The show also addressed federal funding for tribal schools and increasing Native American participation in U.S. government. In January, LeValdo was in Washington, D.C. as a runner-up in YouTube Project: Report, a competition sponsored by YouTube and the Pulitzer Center for aspiring journalists to tell stories that might not otherwise be told. While in Washington, LeValdo completed a National Minority Consortia fellowship by preparing a third story for the PBS Online NewsHour that aired Jan. 16. The National Minority Consortia are five national media organizations funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to deliver programming that brings minority voices to public airwaves. Her final report for the consortia examined Native American participation in the inauguration. www.news.ku.edu/2009/february/11/levaldo.shtml

The following KU journalism students have been chosen to receive MLB internships: Jesse Temple, Chicago; Rustin Dodd, Kansas City; and B.J. Rains, St. Louis. The MLB internships are season-long and the interns do much of the same work as the full-time MLB.com reporters. The interns fill in for the full-timers on days off, write secondary stories about the home team and sometimes cover the visiting team if that team's full-timer does not come on the trip. The J-School will have had 10 interns out of a possible 90 positions in the past three years.

Other Recognition of Journalism Students:   

Adam McGonigle, the new student body president, is a journalism junior and pre-law student.

Rhonda LeValdo, journalism graduate student and Haskell Indian Nations University instructor, was among the panelists who interviewed the 2008 presidential candidates in a live broadcast on C-SPAN on July 24. She conducted the interview at the UNITY ’08 Conference, July 23-27, in Chicago. UNITY: Journalists of Color Inc. represents more than 10,000 journalists of color through four national organizations: Asian American Journalists Association, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Native American Journalists Association. LeValdo is an elected member of the board of directors for the Native American Journalists Association. She is one of three of the Native American group’s members selected for the presidential forum panel. CNN and Time magazine were co-sponsors for the presidential forum. LeValdo earned an associate’s degree at Haskell and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from KU in fall 2007.

KU has announced the 2008 Mount Oread Scholars – 14 of the 229 scholars are direct admits to the School of Journalism or are pre-journalism. Established in 1996, the program is designed to facilitate academic connections on campus and is part of the University Advising Center. First-year students are invited to become Mount Oread Scholars if they graduated in the top 20 percent of their high school classes and received ACT composite scores of at least 28 or minimum SAT scores of 1240. Mount Oread Scholars work individually with advisers in their fields of interest, share class schedules to form study or discussion groups and attend scholar support sessions. There is also a Learning Community and orientation seminar course reserved for scholars. Direct admits to the J-School are Kelly Cosby and Kelly Stroda. Pre-journalism students include: Christine Davis, Hilary Golubski, Rachel Greenstein, David Hughe, Erica Keefer, Elizabeth O’Neill, Chelsea Paulman, Benjamin Pirotte, Eileen Remley, Amanda Roberts, Laura Sather and Whitney Wade.

Sarah Neff, journalism senior, won the prestigious Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship for study abroad. She is one of five KU students who won, which is the most Gilman awards KU has received at one time. Neff will spend the fall semester studying at the Arabic Language Institute in Fez, Morocco. She was the summer 2008 editor of The Kansan and has been a reporter and producer for KUJH-TV. She is a McNair Scholar. The congressionally funded Gilman program aims to diversify the kinds of students who study abroad and the countries and regions to which they go. The program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Irina Yakhnis, journalism and Russian/Eastern European studies student, and Ashley Barforoush, prejournalism student, were two of 25 peer educators selected to mentor students in KU Learning Communities for fall 2008. Peer educators serve as academic mentors and advisers and also help first-year students transition to college life and assist upper-level students in exploring majors and professions. The Learning Communities program is an innovative academic initiative designed to bring students together into small, interactive thematic learning groups. www.news.ku.edu/2008/august/12/peereducators.shtml

The Ad Club elected its 2008-09 officers: Hannah Tripp, president; Amy Eastin, vice president; Caitlin Tew, publicity chair; Cassie Fago, treasurer; and Sarah McRoberts, secretary. Patty Noland is the faculty adviser.

Rhonda LeValdo, graduate student, was highlighted on the Center for Asian America Media blog for her reporting on minority issues. As a National Minority Consortia fellow and teacher at Haskell Indian Nations University, LeValdo’s story focuses specifically on Native American college students, their views on the presidential candidates and how their lives are impacted by federal funding for education. You can view her story on the PBS Online News Hour blog.

PRSSA officers for the 2008-2009 school year are: Hannah Hartman-Frost, president; Alyssa Steffen, vice president: Vanessa Davis, treasurer; Kara Boeshaar, secretary; Megan Penrod, director of professional development; Lacey Breech, director of member relations; Taylor Wofford, director of Jayhawk Communications; Phil Hoefer, assistant director of Jayhawk Communications; and Todd Brown, Web site developer. Patty Noland is the faculty adviser.

Danielle Hochman, junior, will be the stage manager for college football games that will air on ABC, starting this fall. The crew includes ESPN employees who will travel to work Big 12 games. As a stage manager, Danielle will be stationed in the media booth and communicate via headset with the director and associate director in the trucks telling what promotions or storylines will be coming up next.

Rauf Arif, graduate student from Pakistan and Fulbright Scholar, will be one of the panelists on “Pakistan Panel II: Beyond Musharraf,” sponsored by KU’s International Program. The panel is from 3:30-5 p.m., Sept. 9, in the Kansas Room of the Kansas Union. The event is free and open to the public.

Seniors Sonia Pantoja and Allison Willis are in the KU Student Ambassadors program for 2007-08. Student ambassadors work closely with the Office of Admissions and Scholarships, volunteering their time to give campus tours, serve on informational panels in Lawrence and elsewhere and correspond with prospective students.

Matthew Ellett, a student in the Marketing Communications graduate program at the Edwards Campus, was the subject of The Kansas City Star “How I Got the Job” feature on the front page of the Career Builder section October 5.

Three pre-journalism students have been selected as Summerfield and Watkins-Berger Scholars for the year. The highly-prestigious scholarships provide $4,500 per year for four years to each student. Samantha Anderson and Lynsey Metz are Watkins-Berger Scholars, and Shawn Schaller is a Summerfield Scholar. http://www.news.ku.edu/2008/october/16/scholars.shtml#directory

Dana Anne Meredith, journalism freshman, was named a National Merit scholar. The National Merit scholarship is widely regarded as the most prestigious national award bestowed upon high school seniors. Fewer than 10,000 students of the 1.2 million who compete for the award, or less than 1 percent, receive National Merit scholarships. Recipients are chosen based on their academic abilities and records and extracurricular activities. For fall 2008, National Merit scholars each received $10,000 scholarships. The scholarships are renewable. Meredith, along with the other KU students who received National Merit, National Achievement and National Hispanic scholarships, will be recognized as part of Scholars Day at halftime at the KU-Texas football game Nov. 15 in Memorial Stadium. http://www.news.ku.edu/2008/october/23/nationalmerit.shtml

Rachel Burchfield, journalism senior, received KU’s ExCEL (Excellence in Community, Education and Leadership) Award during halftime of the KU-Texas Tech homecoming football game Oct. 25 at Memorial Stadium. Journalism seniors Kimberly Westphall and Bill Walberg also were among the ten finalists recognized during KU homecoming events. The ExCEL Award provides an annual $500 scholarship to two students. The winners will plan a leadership conference during the spring semester in conjunction with KU’s Student Involvement and Leadership Center. Nominees were selected on the basis of leadership, effective communication skills, involvement at KU and in the Lawrence community, academic scholarship and ability to work with a variety of students and organizations. The selection committee included representatives from Student Union Activities, the Board of Class Officers, the Student Involvement and Leadership Center and the homecoming steering committee. The award was established in 1991 to recognize one male and one female student for achievement and to add student interest to annual homecoming festivities.

J.J. DeSimone, graduate student, was the lead author on a paper that was accepted for presentation at the Central States Communication Association's 2009 annual conference in St. Louis, Mo. The paper, “Can the President Affect the Media Agenda? An Examination of Media Coverage of Iraq, Iran and North Korea Before and After Bush's Axis of Evil Speech,” originated in his Fall 2007 J840 seminar in political communication. Co-authors are journalism graduate students Rhonda Levaldo, Rauf Arif, Amanda Clemens, Josh Patterson, Ryan McGeeny and Prof. Tien Lee. The paper will be presented in early April 2009 in the Media Studies interest group in a panel called "And Now the News…Explorations into News Media in Contemporary Culture.”

Danielle Nichole Peters’ artwork was recently on display in South Korea. Peters is a senior majoring in fine arts and journalism. Faculty and students in the KU Department of Art exhibited their work earlier this month at the Museum of Contemporary Art at Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea. The International Printmaking Exchange Exhibition celebrated the Hongik University printmaking department’s 20th anniversary. The show included works from students and faculty from universities throughout the United States, China, Japan, Australia and South Korea. KU and Hongik University established an international exchange agreement in 2007. Hongik University is one of the highest-ranking universities in the areas of art and design in South Korea, and its printmaking department, established in 1988, was the first of its kind in the country. www.news.ku.edu/2008/november/18/printmaking.shtml

Eight journalism students were inducted Dec. 2 into the KU Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi, an honor society. The students were Sylvia Davis, Stephanie Lovett, Susan Melgren, Lauren Oberzan, Stephanie Rhoads, Kyle Schee, Alyssa Steffen and Allie Wallace.

Matt Erickson, Journalism senior from Olathe, has won first place in the In-depth Writing Competition of the Hearst Journalism Awards Program. His score also has contributed to the KU School of Journalism being in the lead in the Intercollegiate Competition. There were 92 students competing from 55 journalism schools across the country in the third writing competition of this academic year. Erickson will receive a check for $2,000. The J-School will receive a matching grant. Erickson also qualifies for the National Writing Championship, which will be held in San Francisco this June.

John “Jack” Connor, Journalism senior from Overland Park, served on the state committee for the Presidential Inaugural Committee to plan Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service events in Kansas.

Katherine Blankenau, Lincoln, Neb. junior majoring in English and journalism, is among twenty undergraduates who have been named University Scholars for 2009. They were honored during the first TV timeout at the KU vs. Colorado men’s basketball game on Jan. 31, and also on Feb. 1 at an invitational dinner in the Kansas Union. The University Scholars Program provides academic experiences that challenge students intellectually and enhanced opportunities to second-year undergraduates. The scholars must maintain at least a 3.5 grade-point average to stay in the program and are eligible for $500 scholarships for up to five semesters while enrolled at KU. Administered by the University Honors Program, the University Scholars Program was established in 1981 by Deanell Reece Tacha, then-vice chancellor for academic affairs, now chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals, 10th Circuit. The program identifies exceptional undergraduate students and encourages them on their path toward outstanding achievement. www.news.ku.edu/2009/january/30/universityscholars.shtml3

Marilyn Haines, Salina sophomore, and Elliot Metz, Wichita sophomore, are members of the cast of the KU University Theatre production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” which is a hit musical from the 1960s being staged late this month. www.news.ku.edu/2009/february/19/howtosucceed.shtml