From Our Archive
Oct. 6, 1998
Foundation
awards $20,000 to
Roy Howard competition finalists
CINCINNATI -- The Scripps Howard
Foundation has awarded scholarships totaling $20,000 to 10
undergraduate college journalism students who were finalists
in the 1998 Roy W. Howard National Reporting
Competition.
The students were
recognized during an awards banquet Monday, Oct. 5, at Indiana
University in Bloomington. Indiana University School of
Journalism coordinates the competition and awards ceremony, which each year
includes the Howard Lecture. Brian Lamb, chairman and CEO of
C-SPAN, was this year’s guest lecturer.
"The Scripps Howard
Foundation is proud to celebrate one of America’s journalism
pioneers with this program that bears his name," said Judith
G. Clabes, president and CEO of the Foundation. "This
competition encourages the brightest and the best of those who
aspire to the profession to which Roy Howard dedicated his
life."
Roy W. Howard was one of
the newspaper world’s most dynamic personalities. He became
president of the United Press when he was 29 and 10 years
later was named chairman of the board of Scripps Howard. He retired
in 1953 but remained active in the company until his death at
age 81 in 1964.
The Roy W. Howard National
Reporting Competition is open to undergraduate journalism
students — freshmen, sophomores and juniors - for coverage of
campus or community events, issues, trends or personalities,
published in a campus or professional newspaper.
Receiving first
place awards were:
--Ryan Cormier, a
political science and journalism major at the University of
Delaware. Cormier was recognized for a work headlined "Morals
and Ethics in Local TV News." The piece concluded that the
competitive nature of journalism in a time of peace and
prosperity has provoked sensationalist reporting on money,
murder and sex.
--Cara LaBrie, a
communications and history major at Santa Clara University.
LaBrie received the award for a story headlined "The Price of
Admission: Hazing at SCU — Rites of
Passage."
LaBrie examined hazing and
underage drinking among student athletes and showed that
non-athletes were more likely to be disciplined than athletes
for violations of the university’s standard conduct code.
--Aline Mendelsohn, a
journalism major (French minor) at Indiana University.
Mendelsohn won for a story headlined "Embracing Life’s
Uncertainties: Living with Cancer." The human interest
story
chronicled an IU student’s battle with colon cancer.
--Harley Ratliff, a
journalism major at the University of Kansas. Ratliff won for
a story headlined "Trapped" that studied the plight of a
Kansas soccer player’s legal battle challenging the
NCAA’s academic
qualifications.
The runners up are:
--Chris Hutchins, a
journalism major (folk studies minor) at Western Kentucky
University. Hutchins piece, "Comic Books Come of Age" revealed
that about 80 percent of comic book readers are adults and dispelled
the notion that comic books are something people outgrow.
--Phillip Reese, an
English and philosophy major at North Carolina State
University, for his piece headlined "In Search of Ethnicity:
Diversity among NCSU Colleges." The story examined
the disparity, in
terms of diversity of student population, between colleges
within the university.
Receiving honorable
mentions were:
--Brad Jenkins, a
media arts design major at James Madison University, for his
piece headlined "University Grade Inflation Noticeable."
--Tom Lasseter, a journalism major at the University of
Georgia, for a story headlined "Should Players go for the
Green."
--Mikki Lynn
Olmsted, a journalism and Spanish major at Western Kentucky
University, for her piece headlined, "Losing our Religion."
--Eric Weslander, a journalism major at the University
of Kansas, for his story "Conflict of Interests."
Judges for the 1998
competition were Maggie Balough, editor of Quill; Hunt Helm,
formerly with The Courier-Journal in Louisville, who is now
associate commissioner in the Kentucky Department of Education’s
Office of Communications; and Vince Vawter, president and
publisher of The Evansville (Ind.) Courier.
Dedicated to excellence in
journalism, the Scripps Howard Foundation is a leader in
industry efforts in journalism education, scholarship,
internships, literacy, minority recruitment/development
and First Amendment
causes.
Contact: Patty Cottingham, Scripps Howard Foundation, 513-977-3030, cottingham@scripps.com