Internship leads to national award

By Lina Miller
J-School Web reporter

photo by Neel Deshpande

Back in Missoula after her summer internship, print grad student Mary Hudetz enjoys some huckleberry ice cream.

Every summer, hundreds of young journalists pour into newsrooms across the country hoping for a positive experience and perhaps a few bylines, but few get the opportunity to come face-to-face with national breaking news.

Mary Hudetz, a University of Montana journalism graduate student, did just that. Hudetz was an intern for the Minneapolis Star Tribune last August when she came upon the I- 35W bridge collapse just moments after that stretch of highway crumbled into the Mississippi River.

“People say expect the unexpected,” Hudetz wrote in a reznet.com article about the events surrounding the collapse. “But like the drivers in rush hour traffic who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, I didn't.”

Hudetz’s essay about the early coverage of the collapse earned her a 2007 Chips Achievement Prize. The prize, on behalf of the Chips Quinn Foundation, goes to scholars who have shown excellence in journalism and good reporting skills under pressure.

Hudetz was notified of her award recently after being encouraged by Karen Catone, director of the Chips Quinn Scholar Program, to apply for the award early in the semester.

“I was surprised when I found out I won because so much time had passed,” Hudetz said. “I was so focused on school stuff that it was kind of like ‘oh yeah!’”

In the midst of the summer’s bridge collapse coverage, Hudetz was impressed by her fellow reporters.

“The biggest thing that I got out of (my internship), was watching the other reporters for the Star Tribune,” she said. “I was so impressed by everything they had done…some of them are still reporting on the collapse and are writing these really great investigative pieces.” 

Hudetz said that although there were things she would do differently, she was still excited to be a part of one of the summer’s biggest news events.

“As a reporter I’m always thinking about what I could have done better, so if there’s ever another chance, it will be better,” she said.

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