Sunday, October 12th, 2008

School of Journalism receives Hearst Awards

The school took home first overall

Students received a combined $5,000 in awards.

By Jessica Wicks

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

The William Allen White School of Journalism was awarded the Hearst Award for intercollegiate writing again this year.

The school has, for the second year in a row, received the most cumulative points in the national competition.

David Guth, associate dean for the School of Journalism, said that the award was to journalism students as the NCAA championship was to the basketball players.

“We didn’t get welcomed back at the stadium,” Guth said, “but it is a clear sign that we are the best at what we do.”

The trophy and a $10,000 prize will be presented to Dean Ann Brill in June in San Francisco.

The individual student winners received a total of $5,000, and the school received matching amounts.

Nathan Gill won 10th place for his spot news story about the flooding in the Osowatomie when he interned at the Osawatomie Graphic in Summer 2007. He said that he had to interview old people without medication and low income families without flood insurance.

“It was very easy to bring out the humanity,” Gill said, “because in the course of a day, I watched people lose everything they owned.”

He credited the School of Journalism for preparing him to write the story.

“KU journalism teaches not just how to be a reporter, but how to be a professional reporter.”

He said with that professionalism came the attitude it took to handle stories that were sensitive and deal with tragedy.

He said that the story got so much circulation that they had to reprint copies, but he credited much of its success to the team atmosphere of the paper.

“We all were out there, and we did it together,” Gill said.

Malcolm Gibson, general manager and news advisor of The University Daily Kansan, said that the award was just a reflection of the quality work that the students do on a daily basis.

“We don’t put out the paper to win awards,” Gibson said. “First and foremost we put out the best paper and Web site we can everyday, and the awards follow.”

Gibson said that the Hearst award was just another indicator of the University’s overall quality. He said that when a student became a journalist, they had a lot less faculty involvement in the actual process. He said, as a result, the teachers had to set the foundation early before the students.

“We spend a lot more time early on, Gibson said, “so that students can feel comfortable doing it on their own.”

“Even beyond the journalism school, beyond the Kansan,” Gibson said. “Liberal Arts plays such a huge part of becoming a journalist.”

Gibson said that the University was superior compared to Missouri and Northwestern, the second and third place winners, because the University’s publication was completely student run.

Guth said, “Mizzou has a very excellent school of journalism. That being said, it always feels good to beat our neighbors to the east.”

Guth said he would like to say something nice about Kansas State, but they didn’t even make the list.

He said that while much of the credit should go to the students, someone had to drive the sled, and Ted Frederickson, the teacher of the Kansan reporting class, was the one yelling “Mush.”

Frederickson just received the Budig Teaching Professorship for Writing. Guth said that this showed the quality of teaching that is at the helm of Kansan reporting.

“Ted is a dogged champion of his students and gets the best out of them,” Guth said, “and that is what makes a Hearst winner.”

Guth said that there is not a way to know who is the absolute best Journalism school in the nation, but one can use a series of indicators. He mentioned the Kansan advertising staff won the best in the nation for the Cimba Awards, and the Hearst award was just another sign of the quality of education coming out of the University of Kansas.

“It feels good,” Guth said, “but fame is fleeting and we have to preserve it. We are at the highest point and we want to stay there.”

—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina

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