Student journalists from The Butler Collegian and IndianapolisNewsBeat.com received nine “Best in Indiana Journalism” awards from the Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Friday evening.

Former Collegian editor-in-chief Ben Sieck, a senior, won first place for student sports reporting. His story, “Defining a champion: The factors of Indiana high school athletic succes,” examined how the Indiana High School Athletic Association tries to balance competitiveness at Indiana’s public and private high schools. The story was published on IndianapolisNewsBeat.com as part of his coursework for JR312 Multimedia Journalism II.

Sieck and former Collegian co-editor-in-chief Mallory Duncan, also a senior, won first place for spot news reporting for their story, “Former Butler student killed by ISIS.” The breaking news story first reported online the unconfirmed death of Abdul-Rahman Kassig, an American aid worker in Syria who was a political science major known as Peter Kassig during his time at Butler. The updated online story reported confirmation of his death, as well as comments from Butler President James Danko, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. A print story contained a poignant interview with political science department chair Siobhan McEvoy-Levy.

Cartoonist Audrey Meyer, a junior, won first place for student editorial cartoon for her representation of fear surrounding Ebola.

Editor-in-chief Julian Wyllie, a junior, won second place for student editorial writing for “A Cloud of Doubt,” and third place for student column writing for three columns.

Former editor-in-chief Marais Jacon-Duffy ’14 also received a second place for student non-deadline news reporting, for her story “Classification concerns.”

Next year’s editor-in-chief Matthew VanTryon, a sophomore, won third place for student investigative reporting for “Former players allege verbal abuse, mistreatment,” and also third place for student feature story, “Former player Smith diagnosed with cancer.”

Former Collegian editor-in-chief Colin Likas ’14 won third place for student graphics for “Sex crimes reported by BUPD since 2011.”

And former Collegian editor-in-chief Hayleigh Colombo ’12 won second place for education reporting for professional work at Chalkbeat Indiana, a nonprofit online news organization that focuses on issues surrounding education and education reform.

The annual “Best in Indiana Journalism” event honored excellence by professional and student news organizations from around the state for their work from 2014.

 

Media contact:
Marc Allan
mallan@butler.edu
317-940-9822