A night of plenty at awards banquet

By Hannah Heimbuch
J-School Web Reporter

photo by Garret Smith

Retiring J-School professor Bill Knowles congratulates broadcast student Breanna Roy on receiving the Birdwell Scholarship.

Dean Stone Night is many things to the people who attend it. Maybe you came hoping to bring home some of the more than $93,000 in awards handed out. Maybe you came just to dress up. Maybe you were there to remember a child, a spouse or a parent who loved the journalism school. Maybe you were there for the food. Or maybe you’re like Dean Jerry Brown, who describes it as a time when journalists get together and shamelessly congratulate themselves.

Regardless of why you go, almost everyone shares one general theme at the annual awards dinner. We go to look both backward and forward. At what we have accomplished as students and teachers and what people believe we will. At who has come and gone from the J-School, and those who are still working hard within it.

The nation recognizes UM J-School

This year’s Dean Stone Night took a little time out of the chicken dinner and award announcements to appreciate retiring professor Bill Knowles. After two decades of teaching at the University of Montana, Knowles is moving on.

When he started the job, Knowles said, he told a friend that teaching didn’t sound like his kind of gig. “I had no idea that I could and I told him that if the students didn’t respond I would leave,” Knowles said.

“What I didn’t realize in 1986 was the incredible impact that you have on young lives,”

Knowles said. “I just feel overwhelmed by all of the accolades, and I just tell myself: you lucky son of a … you just lucked out.”

The J-School also congratulated Knowles on receiving the Ed Bliss Award, which recognizes a lifetime of achievement in the world of broadcast journalism.

Looking in another direction, Dean Stone attendees recognized Denise Dowling for her 2005 receipt of the “Promising Professor” award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

On the student side, broadcast student Stan Pillman and photo student Mike Greener both won first place in Hearst competitions this year, Pillman in radio broadcast and Greener in the photo series competition. 

“Shamelessly congratulating themselves”

More than 70 students received scholarships at Dean Stone Night, some standing out as announcers called their name repeatedly throughout the evening. Print junior Zachary Franz was one of these students, receiving three scholarships totaling $3,000.

Among others, Franz received the Jeff Cole Memorial Scholarship, which remembers 1981 UM graduate and Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Cole who died in a plane crash in 2001. His wife Maria sponsors the scholarship, which goes each year to a talented student who demonstrates the same eagerness and skill that Jeff Cole did.

“Zach got a lot of attention in our discussions because of the stuff he’s done for the Kaimin,” said professor Dennis Swibold. Franz researched the university’s Inland Northwest Space Alliance and its use of NASA funding. He also wrote several stories about the Sonny Martin trial in Missoula.

photo by Garret Smith

Broadcast senior Courtney Hanson (left) was surprised to hear her name called as the recipient of the Jennifer Servo Memorial Award.

Many of the scholarships are set up in memory of students who have passed away, some recently and some long ago. Jennifer Servo was a 2002 broadcast graduate who was murdered in Abilene, Texas, shortly after starting her first job. Her family established an award in her memory, which goes each year to a graduating broadcast senior.

“Jenn would have so appreciated a little bit of financial help as she was heading out on that first job,” said professor Denise Dowling about why the family chooses a senior.

This year’s award went to Courtney Hanson, who is leaving for California this summer to do an internship at an NBC affiliate.

Dowling said that the award was appropriate for Hanson. “She reminds me a lot of Jenn. She’s definitely an on-air person, as Jenn was. She’s intelligent, hardworking and one of the nicest people you’d ever want to meet,” Dowling said.

“It’s nice to have money to get you through, but for me, I was really honored. It motivates me to live up to those expectations, and to Jenn’s expectations,” Hanson said.

Another graduating senior who left with more than $1,000 in awards was Alex Strickland, editor of the Kaimin. Strickland is one of many of the Kaimin employees to receive awards. Others include reporter Keriann Lynch, reporter Danny Person and sports editor Danny Davis.

Dean Stone Night brings a refreshing air to the J-School, Davis said. “I think we’re all stuck in this world where professors are professors and students are students. It’s one night where we can all party together and have fun.”

photo by Garret W. Smith

Along with professor Keith Graham, the family of Lem Price, for whom a memorial scholarship is named, presented the award. This year's winner was photojournalism student Sarah Gale.

On the photography side, junior Ryan Tahbo won one of the largest awards at the event, the $5,000 Ralph and Hulda Fields Scholarship. Tahbo, who balances school, a family and a 3-to-9-a.m. shift at UPS, said his professors and his wife have been major supports in his life.

“He takes his work very seriously, and because he does have a wife and family he’s mature and knows what he wants to get out of school and his future profession,” said photojournalism professor Teresa Tamura.

Adam Sings in the Timber was another big winner among the photographers. Sings in the Timber won a number of awards, including $2,500 from the Great Falls Tribune Native American Scholarship. He is also a Chips Quinn Scholar this year.

Sings in the Timber said one of his best projects this year has been a story for Reznet news about Native Americans at UM, and he’s looking forward to putting up more stories that show Native Americans in a more everyday light.

“Whenever we see natives in the news it’s either negative or powwows,” he said. And the powwows, said Sings in the Timber, are usually reported with pictures of traditional dancers and costumes. “That’s all we tend to see. But just like any other culture there’s so much more to that.”

This year’s Lee Enterprises Native American Scholarship went to junior Ethan Robinson. However, Robinson left Dean Stone Night just moments before his name was announced as the recipient of the $3,000 award. He was working away at a J-School library computer on Monday, three days later, when a classmate happened to mention the award and he found out for the first time.

The largest broadcast award, for $4,500, went to junior K’Lynn Sloan. “The things that I really thought made K’Lynn an excellent nominee, was, she has worked really hard to understand all the different career options both in front of the camera and behind,” Dowling said. “She’s been a great leader.”

Mendacious Little Bastards

photo by Garret W. Smith

Mendacious Little Bastards — Person, Franz and Pillman celebrate with Dean Jerry Brown, center.

One of the most unusual awards at Dean Stone Night is the "Mendacious Little Bastard" Award, presented by the dean. This year there were three MLB awards, in the form of orange T-shirts.

The name of the award goes back to a university official who complained about coverage in the Kaimin, calling reporters "mendacious little bastards" after they uncovered news he didn't like.

This year's award winners were broadcast student Stan Pillman and print students Danny Person and Zach Franz.

See you next year

The J-School and its sponsors were able to give out $93,084 in scholarships this year, about $3,000 more than last year and the most ever.

Dean Stone Night was established both to recognize achievement and to honor the first dean of the J-School, Arthur L. Stone. The first Dean Stone event was held in 1957.

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