Student writers and magazines win SPJ awards
Have you ever watched a character on shows like Lost, Baywatch or The Office do CPR? In real life, the victims would die, says Meredith Sorensen, whose article “CPR: As Seen on TV” points out the flawed techniques the entertainment industry presents to the public as accurate portraits of modern medicine.
Sorensen’s article in the web magazine, Free Radicals, produced by the Center for Science and Medical Journalism at BU, is a winner in the 2010 Mark of Excellence competition sponsored by the Society of professional Journalists, (region 1, Northeast). She won in the category Online Opinion & Commentary-4 Year College/University.
The SciJo program and Vision magazine dominated the awards won by BU in the annual competition. Free Radicals, under the direction of Professors Ellen Ruppel Shell and Doug Starr, was also a winner in the category:Best Independent Online Student Publication-4 Year College/University.
Vision magazine, edited by professor Caryl Rivers, was cited in the category Best Student Magazine-4 Year College/University. The magazine showcases some of the best writing from the Journalism department.
An article from Vision, “Jail Instead of Treatment?” by Kelsey Abbruzzese, Brittany Peats, and Jordan Zappata, was a winner in the Non-Fiction Magazine Article-4 Year College/University category. This investigative piece showed how women addicts who need medical treatment in Massachusetts can slip through the cracks and wind up behind bars.
The article originally appeared in the Boston Globe, and was written under the direction of professors Mitchell Zuckoff and Dick Lehr.
Annually, the Society of Professional Journalists presents the Mark of Excellence Awards honoring the best in student journalism. National winners will be honored at the 2010 SPJ Convention & National Journalism Conference in Las Vegas. The Society is the nation’s most broad-based journalism organization, dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism and stimulating high standards of ethical behavior. Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry through the daily work of its nearly 10,000 members; works to inspire and educate current and future journalists through professional development; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press through its advocacy efforts.
