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The faculty
and administrators of Elon's School of Communications hosted the
institution's annual awards ceremony in McEwen Studio B April 29.
Eleven outstanding
students were selected from among more than 800 communications and
journalism majors to be honored for their outstanding contributions
in and out of the classroom. Those honored meet the highest academic
standards, have been active in on-campus media organizations and
have achieved great success in challenging internships.
Outstanding
Senior Awards
These four
awards recognize outstanding personal and professional achievements
by graduating seniors who have demonstrated through consistent performance
extraordinary knowledge and ability in their areas of specialization,
and have made significant contributions to the School of Communications
and the major.
ERIN COOPER,
Broadcast Communications Award. In addition to her outstanding
work in the classroom, Erin, a member of Elon's first group of School
of Communications Fellows, was a leader at Elon Student Television
from her freshman days at the university. She finished her coursework
in December, is now working in the entertainment industry in California,
and was not at the awards presentation, but her award was announced
by Dr. Brooke Barnett.
KENDRA RAU,
Corporate Communications Award. Kendra, a standout student,
is the founding president of Elon's chapter of the Public Relations
Student Society of America. She completed several quality internships
while at Elon, and she was CEO for Squirrel Prints Publishing, a
project sponsored by the Elon Enterprise Academy. The award presenter
was Professor Gerald Gibson.
KATRINA
TAYLOR, Film Award. An active participant in broadcast and film
activities at Elon, Katrina spent Winter Term 2004 in Namibia, gathering
material for a special Project Pericles series on AIDS for which
she has done a great deal of editing work. The active ESTV leader
also created and produced "Studio E," one of the student-television
group's most successful shows. The presenter was Professor Ray Johnson.
ERIN CUNNINGHAM,
Journalism Award. Erin has worked in reporting internships at
newspapers in Cary, Greensboro and Frederick, Md., and was selected
out of a national pool to be a reporting intern for the Society
of Professional Journalists' Tampa conference in 2003. She was a
reporter and news editor for The Pendulum, and was active in the
Society of Professional Journalists.The presenter was Dr. David
Copeland.
The
Mary Ellen Priestley Award
Presented to
the student majoring in Journalism whose published writing in newspapers
or magazines has been of the most consistently high quality, the
award is named for the late Dr. Mary Ellen Priestley, former Professor
of English and Journalism at Elon College and adviser to The Pendulum
during its first eight years. This year's winner is Colin Donohue,
current co-managing editor and former editor for The Pendulum. Colin
has also worked part-time and as a stringer for the Burlington Times-News.
The presenter of this award was Professor Janna Anderson. Earlier
in the day, Donohue was honored with the university's overall Media
Award, awarded by the Media Board to the student who best serves
the university as a student leader in student-media organizations.
The
Mary Ellen Priestley Scholarship
This scholarship
is awarded to a female student who is a rising sophomore, junior,
or senior majoring in print journalism and preparing for a career
as a writer or editor for public-circulation newspapers and magazines.
The scholarship was established by the late Dr. Priestley. This
scholarship is awarded to Ellis Harman. A co-managing editor
for The Pendulum, Ellis will spend the summer as a Dow Jones Newspaper
Fund editing intern at the Santa Cruz Sentinel. The presenter of
this scholarship was Dr. Harlen Makemson.
The
A.J. Fletcher Award
This award
recognizes the achievements of an outstanding undergraduate corporate,
broadcast or film major who reflects a wide-ranging interest within
the field, has a GPA above 2.75, has demonstrated leadership in
campus or personal life, and has been involved in some area of community
service. This year's recipient is Anna Brodrecht, a member
of Elon's first group of School of Communications Fellows. Anna
has been a leader in Elon's
current oral history project, examining the challenges journalists
faced covering the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s.
She traveled to Birmingham, Ala., to tape segments of the project,
and interviewed reporters of the time, including Walter Cronkite.
Dr. Connie Book announced the award.
James
F. Hurley Legacy Scholarship
This endowed
scholarship is named in memory of James F. Hurley Sr. and James
F. Hurley Jr. and in honor of James F. Hurley III. All three were
influential as publishers of The Salisbury (N.C.) Post. The scholarship
is awarded to a junior, with preference given to communications
students with priority to journalism majors, and it carries through
to the student's senior year if the student remains at Elon for
four years. This year's rising-junior recipient is Jessica Patchett,
editor and former co-news editor of The Pendulum. Patchett will
work this summer as a reporter for the Concord, N.C., Independent
Tribune. A second Elon student will continue a Hurley Scholarship
originally awarded last year: rising senior Lindsay Porter
has worked as co-news editor, managing editor and copy editor at
The Pendulum and has completed internships at The Alamance News
and Pace Communications. The presenter of these scholarships was
Associate Dean Hamm.
Times-News
Scholarship
This scholarship
will provide financial aid for a participant in journalism at Elon
University who has demonstrated leadership, scholarship, service
to the community and exemplary character traits. This scholarship
is awarded to Matt Belanger, a rising junior who has
worked as a co-news editor and graphics editor at The Pendulum in
addition to being an anchor for ESTV's award-winning news broadcasts.
A second outstanding student will continue a Times-News Scholarship
originally awarded last year: rising senior Colin Donohue,
also the winner of the Priestley Award and the ODK Media Award,
and an employee of the Times-News. The presenter of these scholarships
was Dr. Anthony Hatcher.
The
Lambda Pi Eta Honor Society Award
This award
is given to a graduating senior member of Lambda Pi Eta. Students
are invited to apply for the cash award and nominations are also
solicited. The top six in the pool of nominees and applicants are
asked to submit portfolios, which are judged by the executive committee.
The recipient of the first Lambda Pi Eta Award is Heather Graf,
a broadcast major and exemplary student who completed first rate
professional internships at TV news operations in Charleston, S.C.,
and New York and is now working at WFMY-TV, the CBS affiliate in
Greensboro. The
presenter of the award was Dr. George Padgett, adviser of Lambda
Pi Eta.
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