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COM students sweep three categories at journalism awards
By Jessica Ullian
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Joanna Mayhew was half a world away from Commonwealth Avenue in 2004 when she began to test the skills she had learned in her print journalism classes at the College of Communication. Mayhew (COM’05) had taken a year off from her studies to volunteer with a humanitarian organization in Benin, and started researching and writing about the prevalence of HIV and AIDS. As her COM advisors provided advice and resources via e-mail, Mayhew set her own deadlines, did her own translations and transcriptions, and ultimately turned thousands of words on AIDS in Benin into “The Face of AIDS in Africa,” one of the 12 COM publications and articles given a 2004 Mark of Excellence Award from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ).
“The experience confirmed exactly what I want to do, and that’s priceless,” Mayhew says. “It was my teaching in action, and it reemphasized what I’m working toward.”
COM’s long-standing tradition of success at the SPJ Awards was upheld on Saturday, April 9, when the awards for Region 1, which includes New England, New York, and parts of Pennsylvania, were handed out. University students were named as finalists in six categories, and swept three: best nonfiction article, best student magazine, and best online in-depth reporting.
The University won more awards this year than ever before, says COM Dean John Schulz, reflecting the college’s renewed commitment to teaching the fundamentals of writing to underclassmen and the ongoing efforts to provide professional outlets for juniors, seniors, and graduate students. And as the college continues to increase its enrollment, awards from SPJ and other organizations strengthen its reputation, draw quality students and faculty, and ensure future success.
“This is probably our best year, and I’m hoping to see more in the future just like it,” says Schulz. “Everywhere we look, we’re finding that the college has great teachers pushing talented youngsters to do outstanding work.”
The origins of this year’s winning stories varied; some pieces were developed in COM 201, the basic writing course required during freshman or sophomore year, and others emerged out of advanced reporting or magazine production workshops for graduate students. The first-place award for in-depth reporting was won by Dori Berman (COM’05), Carrie Lock (COM’05), Richard Rainey (COM’05), and Lindsay Taub (COM’05) for “Is Bernard Baran Guilty?” an examination of a Massachusetts man’s conviction for child abuse. Written in a graduate seminar in investigative journalism, the story was published in the Boston Phoenix in June 2004.
The top three awards for a nonfiction article went to Tyler B. Reed (COM’05) for “The Episcopal Church and the Battle Over Gay Ministries,” a piece about the appointment of the church’s first gay bishop; Kevin Alexander (COM’05) for “Boys’ Life,” which explored the daily routines of two adolescents at Wellesley Middle School; and Mayhew’s “The Face of AIDS in Africa.” Reed’s and Mayhew’s stories were published in COM’s Vision magazine, edited by Caryl Rivers, a journalism professor, and Alexander’s was published in Boston Magazine.
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Jenna Pelletier (COM’07), an editor at the Daily Free Press, won the Society of Professional Journalists second-place award for online feature reporting. “It’s nice to have something that you’ve worked really hard on get noticed as good work,” she says. Photo by Phoebe Sexton |
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The University took home all the awards for Best Student Magazine as well. The Comment, the annual magazine produced by students in the graduate student magazine workshop, took first place for the second consecutive year. The issue’s theme was “reversal,” and the stories and essays focused on changes in personal viewpoints or public perceptions. The workshop is led by COM lecturer Cynthia Anderson and supervised by Susan Blau, an associate professor and the director of COM’s Writing Center. Granite, a special newsmagazine reporting on the weeks leading up to last year’s New Hampshire presidential primary, tied for second place with Peel magazine, which was produced in the magazine workshop taught by Rivers and Safoura Rafeizadeh, an associate professor of journalism. Book Remarks, another product of the workshop, placed third.
David Schoetz and Lan Anh Nguyen, both visiting students at BU’s Washington Journalism Center, took the first- and second-place online in-depth reporting awards for their respective stories “A Greener Corps?” about the Army Corps of Engineers and the environmental effects of the agency’s work, and “Marine One Campaign,” about a defense industry competition to win a contract for the presidential helicopter. Jenna Pelletier (COM’07) took the second-place award for online feature reporting with her story “A Genetic Link to Identity: Dr. Bruce Jackson and the Roots Project,” about a School of Medicine researcher’s study of African-American DNA.
“I was just excited about writing about something that was a project out of BU and had international effects,” says Pelletier, who began the project in her COM 201 class. “It’s nice to have something that you’ve worked really hard on get noticed as good work.”
The Washington Journalism Center’s Web site also won the award for best all-around independent online student publication. Awards were given out in a total of 38 categories; the first-place award winners will compete in SPJ’s national contest later this year.
For students, the awards offer a professional advantage and assure their work will stand out when they begin looking for careers in journalism. “They get wonderful clips,” says Blau, who helped relaunch The Comment in 1993 to showcase student work. “And most of them use their clips in their job applications.”
The recognition also offers something even more prized by young journalists: a wider audience for the social and political issues they try to bring to light in their reporting. “I’m really excited that the stories are being used for something,” says Mayhew. “I just hope that in a tiny way, this will raise awareness.”
Some of the winning stories can be viewed at www.bu.edu/com/comment and at www.bu.edu/washjocenter/.
15
April 2005
Boston University
Office of University Relations