J-School places high in broadcast competition

J-School broadcast students and faculty are faring well in a national competition that awards excellence in news production.

Professor Denise Dowling was notified last week that four of 10 awards in radio news will go to the J-School during the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Film, Video and Media Arts .

Danielle Cross, Keagan Harsha and Jessica Hamner will garner awards for radio news production when the results are announced April 5. Dowling was not told where each student placed, but Hamner will receive an award in the radio sports reporting category, the only category in which she entered. The other students entered in multiple categories, which makes it difficult to predict in which area they won, Dowling said.

The three students will be recognized for projects they completed for Advanced Broadcast Reporting, a class typically taken during junior year.

Also up for national recognition is KBGA’s 5 o’clock memorial newscast on Sept. 11, 2002. The student radio broadcast is in the running for best student newscast of the year. It was produced and anchored by Cross with Harsha reporting, Dowling said.

In the student video competition, UM students won in the mixed video category.

"Business: Made in Montana," a half-hour program produced by more than a dozen students, took first place. The J-School has produced the program, which airs on public television, for the past nine years.

J-School professor Ray Ekness also won an award of excellence in the faculty news competition for his feature "Deer Lodge Wheelwright."

Photo-J students win Hearst Award
Two J-School photojournalism students placed in a group of 20 finalists in the second photojournalism competition of the 2002-2003 Hearst Journalism Awards.

Lido Vizzutti will receive a $500 award for his 10th place finish, while Leigh Tonya Jimmie finished just behind in 11th place. Jimmie will receive an award certificate.

The February announcement positions UM in eighth place in the Hearst Intercollegiate Photo Competition. Submitted photos are judged by journalists from the Dallas Morning News, The Philadelphia Enquirer, and the Los Angeles Times.

The Hearst program, which is in its 43rd year, sponsors three photo, six writing and four broadcast news contests during its yearly competition. The photojournalism competition was added in 1970, with scholarship awards ranging up to $5,000.

The number of points each participating school’s students accrue by the end of each cycle determine the school’s rank. Last year, the UM J-School finished in 10th place in the overall Hearst awards competition. Students from more than 100 colleges and universities compete in the program, which gives more than $400,000 in awards, matching grants and stipends yearly.

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