Updated August 20, 2006

NEWS RECOGNITION:

The University Daily Kansan  won a 2005 College Media Pacemaker Award.  Judges evaluate coverage and content, quality of writing and reporting, leadership on the opinion page, evidence of in-depth reporting, design, photography, art and graphics.

Tricia Masenthin was awarded a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Editing Internship at The Kansas City Star  for summer 2006.

Cynthia Hernandez was awarded a Freedom ForumChips Quinn Internship for summer 2006 to be a copy editor for The Montomery, Alabama, Advertiser. 

Other national internships for summer 2006: Alison Peterson at The Philadelphia Inquirer; Theresa Montano at The Dallas Morning News.

Marissa Stephenson's feature on Andy Marso won a first place award In the Society of Professional Journalists national competition. 

In the Hearst Writing competitions, KU contestants placed third in overall points earned in the six monthly contests: Steve Vockrodt placed first in in-depth reporting; Nicole Kelley placed 4th in spot news reporting; Ryan Colaianni placed 6th in sports writing; Louis Mora placed 9th in in-depth reporting; Matt Wilson placed 9th in sports writing;  Marissa Stephenson placed 11th in feature writing; Mike Mostaffa placed 17th in personality profile writing; Laura Snyder placed 20th in editorial/opinion writing.

Additional Society of Professional Journalists regional awards for newspaper went to John Jordan, first in  general news; Steve Vockrodt, second for in-depth reporting; and The Kansan  staff, second for all-around daily newspaper.

MAGAZINE AWARDS:

KU students won all three awards for individual start-up magazines in the 2006 competition of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and additional awards in other categories.  The awards are presented in August of each year. The start-up magazine awards went to:
--First to Jillian Baco for Stems, a business to business magazine with how to information for retail florists.
--Second to Heidi Fedak for Home Again, a consumer magazine with decorating ideas for renters. 
--Third to Jacky Carter for Presence, a consumer magazine with news and practical information for women. 
--Other magazine awards presented in August 2006 went to Melissa Byrd, third place for service and information consumer article; Tara Schupner for a first person consumer magazine article, honorable mention; Jayplay, edited by Natalie Johnson, honorable mentions for design and for single issue of an ongoing print magazine.  Becka Cremer and Jacky Carter were cited for the design award.
--Magazine entries in 12 categories are judged by editors of nationally circulated magazines.
 
KU students won all three awards for individual start-up magazines in the 2005 competition of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and additional awards in other categories. The start-up magazine awards presented in August 2005 went to: First to Kim Rubenstein for Home Front,  a magazine for military spouses, Second to Janette Crawford for re:design, a young person's creativity magazine, Third to Katie Moyer for Playbook, to help Division 1 student athletes prepare for life beyond the courts and playing fields. 

Other magazine awards:  for consumer articles went to Bob Perkins, second place, and Misty Huber, honorable mention;  for a service article, honorable mention to Matt Beat; and for design, honorable mention to Jayplay.

BROADCAST AND ONLINE AWARDS:

Kyle Geiken received The Conclave's Doug Lee Memorial Scholarship from the national association that teaches broadcasters how to better serve the public interest.

KU students won seven first place awards for television, online and newspaper reporting at the Society of Professional Journalists regional convention April 8 in St. Louis. The first place entries competed at the national level.  An additional four second place and three third place awards went to KU students.

Regional SPJ first place broadcast awards went to Tom Hipp for sports reporting and Natasha Trelfa for breaking news; second place awards to Haley Harrison for in-depth reporting and to Audrey Esther for general tv reporting; and third place awards to Trelfa for in-depth tv reporting and Samantha Horner for general tv news. 

Regional SPJ first place online awards went to KUJH-TV news staff for online news; to Denise Spidle and Eric Sorrentino for in-depth reporting and to Jimmy Chavez, Tracy Perlman and Tim Veatch for sports reporting; and third place to Esther, Jamie Zarda, Sorrentino and Jesse Newell for online in-depth reporting. 
     
Students in the School of Journalism also received 20 awards from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters. Eight of the awards were for television and 12 were for radio. Individuals winners in tv were Steve Zawilinski, 3 awards; Adam Sechrist and Haley Harrison, 2 awards each; Karen Abramowitz, Audrey Esther, Lindsey Hale, Beau Harkness, Marshanna Hester, Tom Hipp, Amanda Hollis, Natasha Trelfa and Kassandra Weber, one each.

Winners in radio were Michael Phillips, 5 awards; Mark Zillman, 3, Catarina Benalcazar and Jimmy Chavez, 2 each; and Andrew Bullington, Patrick Casteel, Daniel Duda, Tim Hall, Andrea Hudy, Lauren Kirby, Kellis Robinett and Shanxi Upsdell, one each.

Natasha Trelfa received the gold award for student reporting in the Kansas City Press Club's 2006 Heart of America competition.  Marshanna Hester received the bronze and silver awards and Samantha Horner received honorable mention at the June 8 awards ceremony. Trelfa and Hester graduated in December 2005.  

ADVERTISING AWARDS:

The College Newspaper Business and Advertising Managers (CNBAM)
national Trendsetter Award was presented to The University Daily Kansan.  The Kansan also placed first for newspaper promotion color ad; second for its training program; and third for electronic banner ad. 

Sarah Connelly, fall 2005 business manager, and spring 2006 sales manager, was one of four college students selected to attend the Newspaper Association of America annual Marketing and Future Leaders conference in Orlando. 

Kevin Faddis won a bronze Omni Award from the Advertising Club of Kansas City for the logo he designed for the KU Museum of Natural History and Biodiversity Research Center. 

NATIONAL RECOGNITION OF UNDERGRADUATES:

Michelle Thi Tran received one of 20 Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowships for students planning foreign affairs careers. She is specializing in Russian and East European Studies. Later, she received a Truman Scholarship that is provided by Congress to 75 exceptional students who plan careers in public service leadership.  It provides up to $30,000 for graduate study. 

Emily Howard, a May 2006 graduate in journalism and sociology, received a Fulbright grant for study and research at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.  She will conduct a content analysis of biofarming in the media of New Zealand and the U.S.

Zak Beasley is one of 15 students selected nationwide by the Global Youth Partnership for Africa to attend its August confence in Uganda.  The conference focused on ways to better present Africa in the media.  Beasley presented his documentary, "Tears of Freetown," about the aftermath of the civil war in Sierra Leone to the KU Undergraduate Research Symposium in April.  He spent the previous summer in that country. 

Dan Peters won the student paper competition in the Transportation Planning Division of the American Planning Association.  He presented "The Wright Amendment: Right or Wrong" about restrictive legislation that limits long-haul flights using Dallas Love Field at the APA national conference in San Antonio. 

GRADUATE STUDENT PRESENTATIONS AND PUBLICATIONS:

Lisa Cobel-Krings presented a paper, "Weekly Dilemmas: A study of ethics and community journalism in small towns," to the National Newspaper Association in Milwaukee in September.  It was based on her thesis research directed by Peggy Kuhr. 

Cobel-Krings presented her paper on ethics and decision-making at five small Kansas weekly newspapers to the Community Journalism Interest Group at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in San Francisco in August. 

Kim Rubenstein's paper, "Perceptions of Media Bias and Its Effect on Media Choice," was presented to the AEJMC Media and Society Division in August.

Kellee Kirkpatrick presented her paper, "The Public's Confidence in Media: The Effect of Political Events," to the American Political Science Association in Philadelphia. 

Suse Goricke presented her paper, "It's About What Your School Can Do For You: The Importance of Today's Journalism Education for Tomorrow's Online News," at the Ohio University Institute for Applied and Professional Ethics Conference on Blogging and Online Journalism in April.

Staci Wolfe's article, "What Defines Convergence," was published online in the University of Southern California Convergence Newsletter.

Wolfe, with Professor Rick Musser, presented "Blogs Are Not Just for Blogging: Using blogging software to manage online course content,"  at the October Conference on Media Convergence: Cooperation, Collisions and Change, at Brigham Young University.

Wolfe and Cobel-Krings received a first place award for personal Web site development/creation for "Take This Job and Love It" from the National Federation of Press Women.

Madinah Hazim was chosen to teach a class on diversity in media for the Duke Talent Identification Program in April.

UNIVERSITY RECOGNITION:

Rebecca Evanhoe received the Phillip W. Whitcomb Prize for her essay on genetic reproductive technology.  She is majoring in journalism and chemistry. Evanhoe also was featured in the KU Women of Distinction Calendar published by the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center.

Marsha K. Leffler, a journalism and art student, received a KU Undergraduate Research Award for summer 2006 to collaborate on a design video with Rebecca Evanhoe. 

Alexis Ali Bannwarth received a national scholarship for graduate school from the Phi Kappa Phi honor society. She received the Campanile Award given for leadership, strength of character and respect for the University by the senior class officers and the Jayhawker Yearbook Hilltopper Award.  She was one of 10 finalists for the Excellence in  Community Education and Leadership Award.  She was president of Watkins Scholarship Hall, a founding member of Kansas Connections for students from small Kansas towns, member of Mortar Board, Phi Kappa Phi, a Watkins-Berger Scholar and has won an outstanding peer educator award. 

Six students were elected to Phi Kappa Phi academic honor society. 

 Karen Bentley and Shanxi Upsdell are among 22 University Scholars chosen to work with faculty mentors through their undergraduate years to investigate knowledge of fields outside their own. 

Three journalism students have been named to the 10-member board of Student Union Activities that provides a diverse schedule of social, cultural and educational activities.  Bailey DeReus is SUA president, Amanda Hallier, film coordinator, and Tanner Burns, live music coordinator.

Seven of the 21 students who were selected to assist incoming freshmen and transfers
during summer orientation sessions were journalism students.