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.
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
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