Carnegie-Knight News21 Schools Honored in Contests

Journalism students in the national Carnegie-Knight News21 program, headquartered at the Cronkite School, have been recognized with more than 40 awards for reporting, design, multimedia and photojournalism.

The students from 12 of the nation’s top journalism schools, including the Cronkite School at Arizona State University, spent 10 weeks last summer reporting in-depth stories around the country and presenting them in innovative ways on the Web.

Students produced work that won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award as well as awards from the Society for News Design, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Society of Professional Journalists, among others.

The RFK collegiate journalism award went to David Kempa of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University for a project about one man’s mission to help impoverished farmers in Mexico.

The University of North Carolina won seven awards in the Society for News Design quarterly competitions. The winning projects will go on to the national competition, to be judged in August.

UNC also won eight awards in the National Press Photographers Association competition, three College Photographer of the Year honors and two awards in the Pictures of the Year International competition, which honors the best photography around the world. The school’s “Powering a Nation” project earned the Pictures of the Year International Award of Excellence, coming in behind only Reuters, MediaStorm and The Associated Press in the Documentary Project of the Year category.

UNC, ASU, Syracuse University and the University of Maryland all placed in the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Best of the Web contest and took top awards in their regional Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Awards contests. The University of California at Berkeley also placed in the AEJMC contest.

Students in the News21 program come from the nation’s leading journalism schools. They spend a semester studying critical national issues, followed by a summer traveling the country to produce in-depth news coverage and experimenting with innovative digital methods to tell their stories. Nearly 100 students participated last summer.

In addition to ASU, UNC, Maryland and Berkeley, other schools in the alliance are Columbia University, Northwestern University, the University of Southern California and Syracuse University. Students from four other schools – Harvard University, the University of Missouri, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Nebraska – also contribute.

News21 is part of the Initiative on the Future of Journalism Education, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The complete list of 2010 awards:

Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Best of the Web

• "Latinos & Hispanics in America," 1st place (tie), Team Innovation
• "The Young and the Wireless," Second Place, Team Journalism
• "Powering a Nation," 3rd place (tie), Team Journalism
• "The New Voters," 3rd place (tie), Team Journalism
• "BARThood," Honorable Mention, Team Journalism

Additionally, 2010 News21 fellow Tracy Boyer of UNC won first place in the individual journalism category for her 2009 student project Honduras and the Hidden Hunger.

42nd Annual Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award

• "Crossing Borders," Sole Collegiate Winner, College Print or Online Division

International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences Webby Award

• "Powering a Nation" Finalist, Student Sites

NPPA’s Best of Photojournalism 2010

• "Powering a Nation" 
Overall Best Use of the Web
• "Powering a Nation" 1st place, News or Feature Multimedia Package
• "Mining the Mountains," 2nd place, Documentary Video
• "Roping the Wind,"
 2nd place, Feature Video

67th Pictures of the Year International

• "Powering a Nation" 
Award of Excellence, Documentary Project of the Year
• "Mining the Mountains," Award of Excellence, Issue Reporting - Multimedia

College Photographer of the Year 2009

• "Powering a Nation" Gold, Large Group Multimedia Project
• "Roping the Wind," Gold, Individual Multimedia Story or Essay
• "Battle for the Mountains," 
Bronze, Multimedia Project

National Press Photographers Association, Monthly Multimedia Contests

• "Debating Coal's Future," 1st place, Team Video
• "Religion Rejuvenates Environmentalism," 1st place, Team Video
• "Down the Lines," 
1st place, Team Video
• "Roping the Wind," 1st place, Individual Video
• "Battle for the Mountains," 
2nd place, Team Video
• "Moving to Higher Ground," 2nd place, Team Video
• "Powering a Nation" 
2nd place, Multimedia Project
• "Voices of Roscoe," 3rd place, Team Video

Society for News Design Best of Multimedia Quarterly Contests
The following are winners in the Student News category and qualify for the national contest in August.

• "Fighting Battles"
• "Powering a Nation"
• "Roping the Wind"
• "Climate Refugees"
• "Down the Lines"
• "Energy Portraits"
• "The High-Energy Diet"
• "Reclaiming Creation"

Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Regional Awards
First-place regional winners qualify for national SPJ awards, to be announced this fall.
Mid-Atlantic Region

• "Debating Coal's Future," 1st place,
 Online In-Depth Reporting
• "Reclaiming Creation," 1st place, Online Feature Reporting
• "Down the Lines," 2nd place, Online In-Depth Reporting
• "Powering a Nation" 2nd place, Best Independent Online Student Publication
• "The New Voters," 3rd place, Best Independent Online Student Publication
• "Roping the Wind," 3rd place, Online Feature Reporting

Western Region

• "Building Success," 2nd place, Online Feature Reporting

Student Society for News Design

• "Powering a Nation"
 1st place, Best Overall College News Website
• "Powering Down," 1st place, Best Display for Multimedia
• "Powering a Nation" 1st place, Best Interactive or Animated Graphic
• "Debating Coal's Future," 
1st place, Best One-Subject Stand-alone Mini-site or Special Section/Special Package of a Larger Website

For a complete list of awards, visit News21 Awards.