UAF students win national journalism award

Submitted by Tori Tragis
Phone: (907) 474-6438
11/21/03

Two UAF journalism students broke into the big time when they won an award from the Online News Association Nov. 15. Curt Merrill and Tom Delaune, working with their editorial advisor and professor Lisa W. Drew, examined the impact of the Patriot Act on interior Alaska as part of the Department of Journalism’s online periodical, "Extreme Alaska," in a spring 2003 edition.

Merrill and Delaune won in the creative use category, whose requirements include content, design and relevance of the news to readers. ONA judges praised the pair’s effort to understand a national story from a local perspective in "A Chilling Effect? Alaska’s Heartland Reacts to the Patriot Act." The online article uses multimedia to illustrate how congressional legislation has personally impacted local citizens.

No other student projects were finalists in the competition. Winners in other categories include organizations like The New York Times, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. and ESPN.

CONTACT: Lisa W. Drew, assistant professor, Department of Journalism, at (907) 474-6245 or e-mail lisa.drew@uaf.edu for more information. "Extreme Alaska" can be accessed at www.uaf.edu/journal/extreme/.