Rebecca Smith, a sophomore journalism major and features editor of The Pendulum student newspaper, was one of nine students nationwide to be selected for a Scripps Howard Foundation 10-day journalism study trip to Japan in its annual Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition.
Smith, a Communications Fellow, will begin the program June 11 and travel to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima. Students will meet with print, broadcast and online journalists in Japan and visit one of the largest newspapers in the world and Asian reporting bureaus for international media. They will also visit landmarks of historical and cultural importance.
Smith and the other winners were selected based on the strength of their previous journalism work and a personal essay they wrote about what an international study experience would mean to them.
The competition, which was established in 1984, honors the memory of Howard, who led Scripps Howard Newspapers from 1922-1953 and United Press International from 1912-1920. The trip will be led by Brad Hamm, formerly the associate dean of Elon’s School of Communications and now the dean of the School of Journalism at Indiana University.
Smith will join students from eight other schools, which include Franklin College, Virginia Tech, Indiana University, The College of New Jersey, Arizona State University, Texas A&M University, California State University-Chico and Ithaca College. Smith joins 2007 Elon alumnus Justin Hite as the only Elon students to have won this national reporting award. Hite made the trip to Japan in 2007.