Thad Allender and Erin Adamson were chosen by the Poynter Institute to participate in its Class of 2002 Spring Break for College Students program.

Amanda Denning and Kara Ryckman won awards in the writing competition at PRSSA Day sponsored by the Public Relations Society of America Kansas City chapter on Nov. 9. More than 100 students competed. Denning placed second, winning $400, and Ryckman placed third, winning $200. Half of each award is to go to the student chapter, PRSSA.

Nine students were awarded Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Editing Internships for summer 2002 in national competition, and six have accepted. The students and the cities where they will work are:Molly Gise, Colorado Springs; Jenna Goepfert, Erie, Pennsylvania; Kristi Henderson, Macon, Georgia; Clay McCuiston, St. Petersburg; Sarah Warren, Charlotte, North Carolina; Brent Wasco, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jay Krall, Jason McKee and Matt Merkel-Hess declined and have accepted other internships. Krall will report for the Wall Street Journal Chicago bureau; McKee will be a sports copy editor for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Students in the School placed third overall in the William Randolph Hearst Foundation National Writing Competitions for this year.
Lauren Brandenburg Hanni placed sixth in in-depth writing. Entries came from 87 students at 49 journalism schools. Erin Adamson placed 16th and Meghan Bainum placed 18th in the feature writing competition. Chris Wristen placed third in the sports writing competition, and Jeff Denton placed 12th. There were 71 entries from 42 journalism schools. Brandon Stinnett placed sixth and Sarah Warren placed 11th in the personality profile competition. One hundred students from 61 journalism schools entered the competition. Cassio Furtado placed 11th in spot news reporting for a report he did while working for the Knight-Ridder newspapers Washington bureau on the Washington Politics and Journalism Semester in Fall 2001.

Carlos Rodriguez, a prejournalism freshman from Wichita, has been chosen a Freedom Forum Chips Quinn Intern/Scholar. He will report for the Jackson, Tennessee, Sun in summer 2002.

Kansan news staff members won seven awards in the Society of Professional Journalists regional Mark of Excellence competitions.
The Kansan was chosen the best all-around daily newspaper.

First-place awards: Bruno Pieroni, editorial cartooning; Lauren Brandenburg Hanni, spot news reporting, for "Police seek missing student," spring 2001; Brandon Stinnett, feature article on Kansas City Star sports columnist Jason Whitlock, spring 2001.

Second-place awards: Cynthia Malakasis, in-depth reporting, for her project on "Affirmative Action"; Chris Wristen, sports writing, for his spring 2001 project on how the Athletic Department profits by promoting the images of star student athletes.

Third-place award: J.R. Mendoza, general news reporting, for his project about minorities in traditionally white fraternities.

KUJH-TV staff won four Mark of Excellence awards at the Society of Professional Journalists regional convention. Andrea Burnett placed second in general news for "Fasting and Feasting," and Jessica Salazar tied for third in that category for "AIDS." The station also won second and third place awards for daily newscasts.

The Jayhawk Journalist won third place in the single-issue of an ongoing magazine general excellence category in the student magazine competition of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Frances Gorman received honorable mention for her individual startup project, Ballroom magazine.

Paul Smith received honorable mention in the national Robert F. Kennedy Student Award competition for his Advance Reporting final project in Fall Semester 2001. The story was about the KU classified employees who are paid so poorly that they are below the federal poverty line. The Kennedy Award recognizes outstanding writing about the disadvantaged and forgotten in society. Ethel Kennedy notified Paul by telephone. In 1997, Liz Musser and Edmee Rogriguez won the award for a Kansan report on homeless young people in Lawrence.

Stories written by four students in Dean Gentry's class, Seminar in Management: Change and Convergence, are featured in an American Society of Newspaper Editors publication created by the Interactive Media Committee. The stories were written by Heather Attig, Phil Cauthon, Angie Dasbach and Darren Osburn. The publication was distributed to everyone attending the ASNE convention April 9 - 12 in Washington. Warisa Chulindra will write for the ASNE Reporter during the convention.

Michael Bieke's in-depth report on agricultural runoff pollution was broadcast statewide on Kansas Week May 31 on Kansas Public Television. Bieke originally produced the story for broadcast on KUJH-TV News. The cooperation between KUJH and KPT will continue.

Melissa Eisberg has been selected for an American Society of Magazine Editors internship in summer on Travel & Leisure magazine. Lindsay Gross has been invited to return to Washingtonian magazine, where she did her externship in January. Maggie Koerth has an internship at Saveur magazine. Gillian Titus will receive the Business Press Educational Fund Vance Scholarship.

The Kansas Association of Broadcasters gave 15 television awards (four of them first place) and seven radio awards (six of them first place) to KU Journalism students. Television awards included:

Complete newscast: KUJH-TV producers Megahn Snyder, first; Michael Rigg, second; Derek Kenyon and Eric Boedeker, honorable mention

Hard news package: Michelle Sherwood, reporter, first, for "Gates"; John McGinley, reporter-photographer, second, for "Smoke Out"; Andrea Burnett, reporter-photographer, honorable mention, for "Fasting and Feasting"

Complete news feature: Megahn Snyder, reporter, first, for "From Mass to Iowa"; Theresa Freed, second, for "Holiday Traffic Safety"; and four honorable mentions to Jessica Salazar, for "Homeless in Lawrence"; Randy Withers, for "Bell Ringers"; Michelle Sherwood, for"Mentorships"; Sarah Glynn, for "Babysitters"

Complete news feature reported as an intern: Theresa Freed, first, for "CPR with the First Lady," at WIBW-TV

Public affairs of entertainment: honorable mentions to the KUJH sports desk, Michael Bieke, Dale Ziegler, Liz Godfrey, Nick Black, Liza Pehrson and Andy Davies

Radio awards included:
Brian Hanni placed first in four categories: Complete Sports Feature, Sports Report, Play-by-Play for KUJH, Play-by-Play done as an intern.

30-second commercial/psa (graduate division): Buck Rowland

Public affairs or entertainment: Doug Donahoo, Brent Wasko and John McGinley, first, for Sports Talk

60-second commercial/psa: Bill Colburn, honorable mention

Heather Attig has been appointed to the Provost's Task Force on Graduate Education.

Three pre-journalism students were selected Summer Orientation Assistants after a series of interviews: Scott Aripoli, Springfield, Mo., sophomore; Kendra Buscho, Denver sophomore; and Maggie Mason, Ontario sophomore.

Eight journalism students were elected to Phi Kappa Phi academic honor society. Initiated Dec. 2, 2001, were Kimberlee Conard, Cara DeMaria, Jennifer Epstein, Kayla Jo Monson, Cassie Norris, Kelsey Patterson, Paula Spreitzer and Lindsay Viner.