The J-School's print and broadcast programs both earned top ten finishes in the Hearst Collegiate Journalism Awards, competing against 110 accredited journalism schools nationwide.
The R-TV program finished seventh nationally after three of the four students entered in the Hard News category placed in the top 20.
The print program finished in eighth place nationally. Junior Kimball Bennion's second place finish in the Spot News category-the highest ever by a UM print student in an indivdual competition-combined with a strong showing in Sports Writing by two students from the Native News Honors program.
Bennion balanced news and emotion
Bennion earned his runner-up finish with an keenly evocative report from the aftermath of a plane crash that killed fourteen people in Butte.
"I knew that by the time it would run people would already know about [what had happened]," Bennion said, "So I tried to look at it from another perspective, hoping that people would be wondering what it felt like to be in Butte on a day like that."
Bennion said he treated the story carefully, striving for a balance between the news event and the lives impacted.
"It was tough to do emotionally. I tried to show a little bit of empathy in talking to them. I tried not to make it sound too sappy. Finding good details helped too. Trying to keep myself out of the story as much as I could was important to me. It was really their story," he said.
Bennion knew the story was a good one, he said, based on reactions from readers, but he "didn't imagine second place."
"I was pleasantly surprised," he said.
No print student has ever placed higher than second in individual competitions. Photojournalism student Bruce Ely won the overall national competition in 1998. In broadcast competitions, Katrin Fry won first in Radio Features in 200, Stan Pillman took top honors in Radio News in 2007, and Melanie Overcast won the same competition in 2007.
R-TV gets back on track
In the past two years the UM's R-TV department finished out of the top ten in the national Hearst Awards Competition. It was the first two times the school failed to finish in the top ten since a broadcast category was added to the competition. A strong showing in the second round of awards this year assured that it wouldn't happen again.
Junior broadcast major Ashley Korslien led the group with a 10th place finish in the radio division, earning $500 awards for the RTV department and for herself. One of the stories in her winning submission originally aired on KUFM and dealt with the Missoula Food Bank's dwindling donations during tough economic times.
Korslien volunteers at the Food Bank and was gratified when her story prompted calls of concern from community members.
"I think places like that get overlooked," Korslien said. "Just the thought that I could make somewhat of a difference is amazing."
Associate RTV professor Denise Dowling said Korslien has a knack for finding compelling human voices and putting a face on a problem.
"She's good at taking an issue and finding those who are living with it and telling the story through their eyes," Dowling said.
Fearless reporting
The other top 20 finisher in the radio division was junior broadcast major Willi Brooks. Brooks' finished 15th with an entry that included a report on the homeless community in Missoula, which aired on KBGA as part of the Footbridge Forum. He spent over 10 hours in the river thickets off the Kim Williams Trail in a tent city interviewing homeless people. During his time there he discovered that one man was living in a tent so he would have enough money to pay child support and helped another do his laundry in the river.
"I guess I told stories of everyday people living their everyday lives in an interesting way," Brooks said.
Dowling admits this type of courage is unusual in such a young reporter.
"Willi is fearless when it comes to getting in the trenches and getting his hands dirty," Dowling said. "I see him going places other people haven't and opening their eyes to places they haven't seen in their world."
Breanna Roy, a senior broadcast major, rounded out the top 20 with an 18th place finish in the video hard news category. Two of her stories aired on KPAX as part of the morning UM News segment.
One of the stories profiled a UM student on the tennis team who was involved in a car accident her sophomore year that killed her friend and forced doctors to amputate one of her legs. Less than a year later she began competing in triathlons and eventually competed in the World Xtera Triathlon in Hawaii.
"My entries definitely showed a sample of Montana," Roy said. "They might have sparked an interest with the judges because they were Montana related."
Print gets assist from sports writing
Like R-TV, the J-School's print program is a perennially high finisher in the Hearst Awards, but the print program's 8th place finish was made possible by a strong showing in Sports Writing, a competition in which UM does not count on faring well.
Mike Gerrity came in 13th place and Kaylee Porter placed 17th out of 87 entries with stories developed after the Native News honors class decided to examine the role of sports on Montana's Indian reservations.
Print chair Carol Van Valkenburg said UM often has difficulty competing in the sports writing category because it's not a large university.
"At other larger schools, sports are a huge business. There are often issues there," said Van Valkenburg.
The Native News Honors Program, unique to UM, teams a reporter and a photographer to report on each of the seven Native American reservations in Montana for a semester-long project. Their compositions are published in an annual native news tab, which is inserted into every major newspaper in the state.
"Native News is probably the most stressful thing I've done in my entire life, but also the most gratifying. I liked just learning about another culture and it really helped me develop in-depth writing skills," said Kaylee Porter.
Porter focused on the Fort Belknap reservation's bareback horse relay races, while Gerrity reported on the most popular reservation sport, basketball, at the Rocky Boy's reservation.
Gerrity teamed up with photographer Kenneth Billington to follow a class-C boys basketball team from the Rocky Boy's reservation to the state tournament in Butte.
"Our reservations were assigned, but Rocky Boy's was wonderful," Gerrity said.
Many of the J-School's Hearst entries come from Native News because students spend whole semesters working on one story. They benefit from student critiques, multiple opportunities to rewrite, and time to perfect their work.
