Nine Win Collegiate Reporting Prize Trip to Japan

CINCINNATI, March 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Scripps Howard Foundation today awarded a nine‐day journalism study trip to Japan to the nine winners of its annual Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition.

The competition, established in 1984 in cooperation with the Indiana University School of Journalism, honors the memory of the journalist who led Scripps Howard Newspapers from 1922‐1953 and United Press International from 1912‐1920. Since 2006, the competition has offered winners the opportunity to travel and study abroad.

The prize responds to the need for today's student journalists to better understand international affairs, said Mike Philipps, president and CEO of the Scripps Howard Foundation.  "A number of previous winners have chosen careers in international journalism," he said. "They often cite this journalism study trip as the motivation behind their decision."

The expenses‐paid trip will be led by Bradley J. Hamm, dean of the journalism school at Indiana University and a Roy W. Howard scholar, who has extensive travel experience throughout Asia. Travel begins June 15 and includes excursions primarily in the Kansai region cities of Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe. Included in the trip is a visit to Hiroshima, the first city in world history to be devastated by the atomic bomb, and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and Park.

"Today's journalists are expected to have a global understanding of the events they cover, and there is no better way to understand outside cultures than to experience them in person," said Dr. Hamm. "These nine students will get to learn about Japanese media and culture as well as the important legacy of Roy Howard."

The nine winners, whose entries represent print, broadcast and interactive media, were chosen for the high quality of their work, an essay about their interest in international affairs and letters of recommendation. Information about this year's winners follows.

Evelyn Cheng is a sophomore journalism and urban design and architecture studies major at New York University. She is a freelance reporter with WORLD New York; opinion editor of Generasian, an Asian American Publication at NYU; and has had an internship at TimesLedger Newspapers in Queens, N.Y. Cheng is from Long Island, N.Y. 

Michael Finch II is a political science and global media communications senior at Florida International University in Miami. He has had an internship at the Palm Beach Post and in 2011 participated in the New York Times Student Journalism Institute in New Orleans. Finch has been a freelance reporter for the Miami Herald and will be an intern at the Tampa (Fla.) Bay Times this summer. He is from Miami.

Alisha Forbes is a sophomore journalism major and economics, history and political science minor at Doane College in Crete, Neb. She is a reporter for the campus newspaper, The Owl, and the production director for the campus radio station, KDNE. She previously was managing editor of the campus newspaper and a producer at DCTV, the campus television newscast. Forbes is from Palmer, Neb.

Torrie Hardcastle is a senior magazine journalism and radio-television-film major at The University of Texas at Austin, where she is editor-in-chief of Orange magazine, founder and supervising editor of Orange Weekly and an editorial intern at Austin Monthly magazine. She has had internships with ESPN Radio, KUT News in Austin, Hollywood West Production, and will be an intern with Women's Health and Rodale's international department in New York this summer. Hardcastle is from Decatur, Ala.

Jack Highberger is a senior at Arizona State University, where he is a journalism major and reporter for the school's Cronkite News Service. He has had internships with NBC News in London and Charlotte, N.C., and with The Arizona Republic in Phoenix. Highberger is from Rye, Colo.

Mark Keierleber is a junior at Indiana University in Bloomington, where he majors in journalism and is a reporter for the Indiana Daily Student. Before transferring to IU, Keierleber was editor-in-chief of the Northwest Trail at Northwest College in Powell, Wyo. He has interned at the News Letter Journal in Newcastle, Wyo., his hometown.

Sharon Lurye is a second-year student at The University of Chicago, where she is majoring in public policy studies and minoring in Russian literature. She writes for the Chicago Weekly and is a Chicago Careers in Journalism Fellow. This summer Lurye will be an intern at the Chicago Reader. She is from Cranbury, N.J.

Suzanna McCloskey is a senior journalism and electronic media major at The University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She is managing editor of UT's news website, the Tennessee Journalist, and is an intern at McGhee Tyson Airport. She previously interned at the Knoxville News Sentinel. McCloskey is from Memphis, Tenn.

Sarah Phinney is a junior telecommunications and journalism major at Ball State University, Muncie, Ind., where she reports for Indiana Public Radio and is the managing editor of NewsLink Indiana, the university's television station. Phinney has interned at WEWS-TV in Cleveland and WTOL-TV in Toledo, Ohio, and in 2011 received a Poynter Fellowship for College Journalists. She will be interning this summer with the investigative unit at CBS News.  

The Scripps Howard Foundation (www.scripps.com/foundation) is the philanthropic arm of The E.W. Scripps Company (www.scripps.com). It is a leader in industry efforts in journalism education, scholarships, internships, literacy, minority recruitment/development and First Amendment causes. With a special commitment to the regions where Scripps does business, the foundation helps build healthy communities and improve the quality of life through support of sound educational programs, strong families, vital social services, enriching arts and culture and inclusive civic affairs.

Scripps (www.scripps.com) delivers quality journalism and creates valuable marketing environments through television stations, newspapers and a growing menu of digital products and services that now includes social games. Creative and mission-driven employees "give light so the people can find their own way" at 19 television stations in major U.S. markets and at newspapers in 13 markets.

SOURCE The Scripps Howard Foundation