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Scripps Howard Foundation Names Winners of Top Ten Journalism Scholarship Program

Tuesday 30. September 2008 - College students from across the U.S. share $100,000 in prize money

The Scripps Howard Foundation today awarded $100,000 in scholarships to 10 college journalism students from across the United States through its annual Top Ten Scholars program.

Journalism and communication schools could nominate one full-time student as their representative in the competition. From the pool of candidates, a panel of newspaper, broadcast and television network professionals chose 10 recipients for the $10,000 scholarships. The one-time award is applied toward a full academic year.

The Scripps Howard Foundation has made $1 million in scholarships available to 100 students since the Top Ten Scholars program began in 1999.

Judges praised the winners for their journalistic expertise and ability to work with excellence in a variety of multimedia platforms.

“As the media industry reinvents itself, it is encouraging to see communications students like our winners in the pipeline,” said Mike Philipps, foundation president and CEO. “It is with great pleasure that we reward them for their accomplishments and encourage them to be the next generation of leaders.”

The 2008 Top Ten Scholars, chosen for their academic achievement, portfolio of work, demonstrated interest in journalism and an essay about their long-term career goals, are:

* AMY BRITTAIN, Louisiana State University – Brittain is from Shreveport, La., a senior print journalism major at the Manship School of Mass Communication, and the chief sports writer for the campus newspaper, The Daily Reveille. She previously won the Freedom Forum-NCAA sports journalism scholarship, UWIRE Top 100 distinction competition, and several Hearts and Society of Professional Journalists awards. Brittain has interned as a sports Pulliam Fellow at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, as a features writer at the Christian Science Monitor in Boston and as a communications assistant at the International Center for Journalists in Washington, D.C.

* DEANNA DENT, Arizona State University – Dent is a native of Tempe, Ariz., and a senior at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Herberger College of Fine Arts. She has interned at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, the East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Ariz., and The Bulletin of Bend, Ore. She has worked on the staff of ASU’s daily newspaper, The State Press, since 2006 and most recently served as photo editor. In 2007, she was a semifinalist in the Hearst photojournalism competition and was named a Chips Quinn minority scholar. Earlier this year, she was among the winners of the Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition. At ASU, she is a reporter for Cronkite News Service and a photographer and editor for Student Media.

* AMANDA DOLASINSKI, The Ohio State University – Dolasinski is a senior from Youngstown, Ohio, and a journalism and political sciences major. She has worked as a staff writer, Metro editor and Arts & Life editor and managing editor at the university’s student newspaper, The Lantern. She has interned with The Alliance Review in northeast Ohio and The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch. At the Dispatch, Dolasinski covered crime and courts and produced multimedia packages for the Web site. This academic quarter, she is interning at Columbus Alive, a weekly newspaper, where she is writing stories and producing videos for the Web.

* TOM GIRATIKANON, Northwestern University – Giratikanon is from Edmonds, Wash., and a senior at the Medill School of Journalism in Evanston, Ill. He has interned at the Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press-Democrat and The Kitsap (Wash.) Sun, and was co-founder and editor-in-chief of North by Northwestern, a daily online newsmagazine.

* BAXTER HOLMES, University of Oklahoma – Holmes, a senior from Tuskahoma, Okla., is majoring in journalism and mass communication. He has worked as a sports reporter and sports editor for the campus newspaper, the Oklahoma Daily, as an Associated Press contributor, an had internships at the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D., in 2006, the Salt Lake (Utah) Tribune in 2007, and the Boston Globe this summer. In addition, Holmes has attended the Oklahoma Institute for Diversity in Journalism, the American Indian Journalism Institute and the Sports Journalism Institute.

* VADIM LAVRUSIK, University of Minnesota – Lavrusik, a senior from Shakopee, Minn., is a journalism major and co-publisher and editor-in-chief of the student-run Minnesota Daily. Lavrusik has worked on the newspaper staff since his freshman year, first as a reporter and later as managing editor. This summer he was an intern at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal.

* ELAINE McMILLION, West Virginia University – McMillion is a senior from Charleston, W.Va., who is majoring in news editorial and communications. She has worked on the campus newspaper and radio staffs, contributed to Lawyers & Leisure Magazine, in Charleston, W. Va., freelanced for the Dominion Post, in Morgantown, W. Va., and interned at The Charleston (W. Va.) Daily Mail. She spent spring semester 2008 studying in Aalborg, Denmark, and is spending fall semester working on a journalism school project, “WV Uncovered: Multimedia from the Mountains,” that will take her around the state for stories from rural areas.

* MATHEW MENDEZ, University of Southern California – Mendez, a senior from Redding, Calif., is majoring in broadcast journalism with a minor in political science. He is an anchor, reporter and political blogger for the school’s nightly newscast, Annenberg TV News; has interned at KRCR-TV in Redding and KABC-TV in Los Angeles; has worked at ABC News’ Los Angeles bureau and New York headquarters; and in radio production and sports announcing in his hometown. Mendez also worked for ABC at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, assisting with Good Morning America’s “Vote ’08” coverage. Earlier this year, he received a certificate of special merit from the Hearst Foundation for excellence in television news.

* SAMUEL RUBENFELD, Hofstra University – Rubenfeld is a senior from Centereach, N.Y., and is majoring in print journalism and minoring in political science. He contributed to the weekly newspaper in his hometown, The Times of Middle Country, and interned at Newsday, The Village Voice and Dow Jones Newswires, where he edited business news as a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Intern. Rubenfeld has worked for the campus newspaper, The Chronicle, for six semesters and is the current senior news editor. At The Chronicle, he led coverage of the 2008 presidential election, blogging from New Hampshire and both national conventions, directing live online coverage of the Super Tuesday contests and continuing coverage throughout the primary and general election seasons.

* JAZMINE ULLOA, University of Texas-Austin – Ulloa is a senior from El Paso, Texas, who is studying print journalism. She is editor of Abroadly Speaking, a student-run study abroad magazine she founded, and is editor of Adelante, a student-run publication focusing on Latino issues. Ulloa has studied documentary filmmaking in the Czech Republic, producing a short documentary on Czech techno music, and has interned at an independent rock music magazine in London. This summer she interned at the Brownsville (Texas) Herald, and is interning at the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman this fall.