UWM Journalism Students Win 32 Milwaukee Press Club Awards

UW-Milwaukee student journalists won 32 Milwaukee Press Club awards for 2020 work, more than any other university, the club announced March 12.

The collegiate winners in the prestigious statewide competition included print/online, video and audio stories for Media Milwaukee, an online news site produced in Department of Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies classes. Some of the awards honor reporters for the UWM Post, an independent campus newspaper.

In 2020, stories explored the COVID-19 pandemic, local elections, protests, a missing college student, and the fate of small businesses.

An immersion class project, Rising Waters, won multiple awards. For that project, journalism students traveled to the lower 9th ward of New Orleans and to the ancestral island homeland of the Isle de Jean Charles Band of Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe. The project was funded in part through a grant from the Greater Milwaukee Foundation Journal Foundation Walter Jay and Clara Charlotte Damm Fund.

Students interviewing a tribal chief during the immersion trip
Students interviewing a tribal chief during the immersion trip. Photo: Jessica McBride

The Media Milwaukee entries were created in multiple journalism classes. UWM student journalists won awards in a broad range of categories including writing, blogging, investigative reporting, multimedia, opinion and more.

Specific gold, silver and bronze winners will be announced later this year at a virtual awards ceremony.

“This year’s contest drew more than 800 entries from throughout Wisconsin in professional and collegiate categories,” the Milwaukee Press Club reported in a statement. “The competition was judged by journalists from press clubs throughout the U.S., including statewide clubs in Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Idaho, Southeast Texas, Western Pennsylvania and metro area clubs in Cleveland, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco and Syracuse.”

The Milwaukee Press Club “is the oldest continuously operating press club in North America.”

Collegiate awards by university:

UWM: 32

Marquette: 26

Madison: 15

Mount Mary: 7

Stevens Point: 5

Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle: 2

Jay Stahl reporting

UWM’S COLLEGIATE WINNERS:

Best Pandemic Story in Audio   

Payton Bachochin           
Media Milwaukee – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Video Games Strengthen a Fragile Bond for Sisters Stuck at Home

Haley Krueger  
Media Milwaukee – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
UWM Offers Targeted Covid Test for People with Symptoms

Media Milwaukee staff               
Media Milwaukee – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
How We’re Living Now

Best Pandemic Story in Video   

Joseph Pethan
Wat Lee              
Media Milwaukee – UW-Milwaukee       
Deemed Essential

Best Pandemic Story That Appeared Online       

Adam Kelnhofer             
UWM Post
Milwaukee Voting Lines Stretch for Blocks, Voters Pelted with Hail

WRITING

Best News Story

Adam Kelnhofer
UWM Post         
Milwaukee Recount Results to Be Announced Day After Thanksgiving

Best Long Soft Feature Story     

Adam Kelnhofer
Ethan Duran      
UWM Post         
“It was a nightmare.” – Students Talk About Their Experiences After Residence Halls Close

Best Short Hard Feature Story  

Wat Lee
Media Milwaukee – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Party Outreach is Critical to Reaching Asian American Voters

John Quinnies  
Media Milwaukee – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Americans Don’t Know What to Believe This Election Season

Best Short Soft Feature Story    

Richa Karmarkar              
Media Milwaukee – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Finding Hope through Music: The Voices of Quarantine

Brianna Schubert
UWM Post
Vegetables, Kit-Kats and Home: How a UWM Student-Artist is Making it Work in Remote Learning

Best Editorial or Commentary   

Allison Beebe  
Media Milwaukee – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The Dawn of COVID-19 in Cape Town: A Backpacker’s Account of Travel During the Pandemic

VISUAL JOURNALISM

Best Still Photograph/Photos    

Patricia McKnight           
Media Milwaukee           
Fulfill the Dream

AUDIO

Best Sports Story            

Grayson Sewell               
Media Milwaukee – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Friends Get Out for Some Fresh Air and ‘Frolfing’

VIDEO

Best News Story Single or Ongoing        

Terese Radke   
Media Milwaukee – UW-Milwaukee       
Early Voting Going Strong in Milwaukee

Terese Radke   
Media Milwaukee – UW-Milwaukee       
Local Shops Make the Most of Small Business Saturday

Best Feature Story         

Richa Karmarkar              
Media Milwaukee – UW-Milwaukee       
“Voces de la Frontera” Brings Election Closer to Latinos

Jacob Stahl        
Media Milwaukee – UW-Milwaukee       
Local Volunteers Spread the Joy in Milwaukee

Best Program, Documentary or Special 

Molly Nelson   
Media Milwaukee – UW-Milwaukee       
Local Food Pantry Becomes Light of Hope

Terese Radke   
Media Milwaukee – UW-Milwaukee       
A Much Kneaded Pastime

ONLINE

Best Use of Multi-Media            

Media Milwaukee staff               
Media Milwaukee           
Rising Waters

Best Local News or Feature Website

Media Milwaukee staff               
Media Milwaukee – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Media Milwaukee

Best Blog            

Media Milwaukee Staff               
Media Milwaukee           
Vanishing Island

Best News Story              

John Quinnies  
Media Milwaukee – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Colectivo Coffee Workers Try to Unionize During Pandemic

Jay Stahl
UWM Post
How Curd Queen Has the Internet Cheesin’ Again

Best Hard Feature Story              

Jessica Gatzow
Media Milwaukee – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Fighting for Climate Change Justice on Milwaukee’s North Side

John Quinnies
Destiny DeVooght
Matthew Hollendonner
Hannah Borchert
Taylor Wietzke
Media Milwaukee           
Into the Night

Best Soft Feature Story

Adrian Hurd      
Media Milwaukee – University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
‘The Pandemic Helped Me Find My Purpose’: Black Women-Owned Businesses Persevere in 2020

Patricia McKnight
Media Milwaukee Staff               
Media Milwaukee           
Into the Bayou

Best Investigative Reporting     

Media Milwaukee Staff               
Media Milwaukee           
Rising Waters

Best Editorial or Commentary   

Everett Eaton   
UWM Post
A Review of My Mental State During the Election

Zachary Semancik           
UWM Post         
Thank You Kobe