Media Milwaukee Wins 39 Major Journalism Awards

Media Milwaukee student journalists at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee earned 39 awards in four major journalism competitions including the Milwaukee Press Club, Wisconsin College Media Association and the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association.

The students won in writing, audio, video and online categories.

The student journalists in a variety of classes snagged 23 Milwaukee Press Club awards, more than any other Wisconsin university in categories including written news story, audio news story, use of multi-media, still photography, video feature story and investigative reporting.

Media Milwaukee reporters won another 12 awards from the Wisconsin College Media Association, a statewide contest sponsored by the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. In addition, they won three first-place Wisconsin Broadcasters Association awards.  Talis Shelbourne was the 2nd place WNA award-winner for Wisconsin College Journalist of the Year.

The Media Milwaukee John Patrick Hunter award for 2019.

In a separate honor, Talis Shelbourne, Jennifer Rick and Miela Fetaw were awarded this year’s John Patrick Hunter First Amendment award. Award coordinator Sam Martino presented the honor to Media Milwaukee Friday for “protecting the freedom of the press to investigate sexual harassment at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.”

“There has been a greater focus on First Amendment rights on college campuses because of attempts at restrictions on freedom of speech, press and assembly,” Martino told the crowd at the awards ceremony in Madison. John Patrick Hunter was a crusading Wisconsin journalist during the McCarthy era. The WNA and the Madison Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists partnered to present Media Milwaukee with the award for news reporting. Marquette also received a John Patrick Hunter award for editorial writing.

The first-place winners announced by WCMA included a feature story by Elizabeth Sloan and Madison Sepanik on Somali immigration to Barron Wisconsin and public affairs reporting for a major student immersion project to cover gun issues in Washington D.C. The first-place WBA honors were won by Kaitlyn Herzog, Lauren Keene and Anijah White for video and audio stories on an innovative cat café, sights and sounds of the 2018 gun march in Washington, D.C., and bicyclists spreading holiday cheer.

The immersion trip was funded in part by a grant from the Milwaukee Journal Foundation Walter Jay and Clara Charlotte Damm Fund.

The Milwaukee Press Club announced the finalists in the 89th Annual MPC Awards for Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism competition on March 12. Students will learn if they received gold, silver or bronze honors on May 10 at the club’s Gridiron Awards Dinner at The Pfister Hotel. Meet the Press host Chuck Todd will be the featured speaker.

media milwaukee
UWM student journalists gather at the Intermodal Station in Milwaukee on their way to Washington, D.C. to cover the 2018 gun march.

“This year’s contest garnered more than 800 entries from throughout Wisconsin in professional and collegiate categories,” the Milwaukee Press Club announced. “The competition was judged by professional journalists from press clubs throughout the U.S., including statewide clubs in Alaska, Florida, Idaho and Michigan and metro area clubs in Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Orange County, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Francisco and Syracuse.”

Madison Sepanik, Elizabeth Sloan, and Henry Morgan hold Media Milwaukee’s WCMA awards.

Here are the stories honored:

Milwaukee Press Club Finalists

WRITING

Best News Story

Henry Morgan
Gubernatorial Debate on UWM Campus Exposes Wisconsin Divide

Best Long Hard Feature Story

Alyssa Wiese
Abortion Clinic Escorts Mark 25 Years in Milwaukee

Best Short Hard Feature Story

Sam Wisneski
In Recovery: Six People, One Building

Best Investigative Reporting

Talis Shelbourne
Jennifer Rick
Nyesha Stone
Miela Fetaw

Exposing Sexual Harassment on Campus

Best Still Photograph/Photos

Ed Makowski
Deer Poaching in Wisconsin: Illegal Harvests in the Heartland

AUDIO

Best News Story Single or Ongoing

Lauren Keene
Voices of the Gun March: Young and Old

Best Feature Story

Alexis Amenson
Choosing Abortion in Wisconsin

Marla Smith
Riley May
Jennifer Leu

Faces of UWM

VIDEO

Best News Story Single or Ongoing        

ReAnna Oestreich

50 Miles to Janesville: A March to Paul Ryan’s Hometown

Best Feature Story         

Lauren Keene
Sip & Purr Cat Cafe Brings Feline Fun to Milwaukee

Best Sports Story            

Jenna Daroszewski
The Pin Chaser Behind the Bowling Machine

Best Program, Documentary or Special 

Simone Safian
Disassociated: To Whom Do We Belong?

ONLINE

Best Use of Multi-Media

Media Milwaukee Staff
Wisconsin Votes (or not): High Stakes for the 2018 Midterms

Best Local News or Feature Website     

Media Milwaukee Staff

Best Blog

JAMS 320 Class
Covers the Midterms

Media Milwaukee Staff
UWM Covers March for Our Lives

Media Milwaukee Staff
UWM Covers the Gun March on Washington & Wisconsin

Best News Story

Lauren Keene
Tug of War: Inside Wisconsin’s Deeply Politicized Abortion Divide

Elizabeth Sloan
Henry Morgan
Madison Sepanik

Two Americas, 32 Miles Apart: Crossing the Gun Divide

Best Hard Feature Story              

Rashaud Foster
Carrie Mahone
Elizabeth Sloan

Engaging Milwaukee’s Black Voters, Block by BLOC

Danielle Miller
The Fight to Stop Sex Trafficking in Milwaukee

Best Soft Feature Story

Carrie Mahone
Carrie’s Curl Conversation

Best Sports Story

Sam Schmitz
So Far, Fiserv Forum is Luring Customers to Neighboring Businesses

Wisconsin College Media Association

News Photography

Second Place
Henry Morgan
Generation Lockdown

News Photography

Honorable Mention
Talis Shelbourne
Hurricane Harvey

Feature Photography

Third Place
Aubryana Bowen
Welcome to Barron

In-Depth Story

Second Place
Royce Podeszwa, Derek Grant
Village That Flipped Back

In-Depth Story

Third Place
Madison Sepanik, Henry Morgan, Elizabeth Sloan
Crossing the Gun Divide

In-Depth Story

Honorable Mention
Talis Shelbourne
Un/Natural Disaster?

Public Affairs Reporting

First Place
Elizabeth Sloan, Henry Morgan, Madison Sepanik, Claudia Delgadillo, Lauren Keene, Sydney Ewert, Jessica Lopez, Morgan Langley, Carrie Mahone, Anijah White, Tiera Trammel, Hunter Hanthorn, Ariel Goronja, Cassie Bretl, Robert Garza, Ed Makowski, Danielle Miller, ReAnna Oestreich, Royce Podeszwa, Talis Shelbourne
Generation Lockdown

Public Affairs Reporting

Second Place
Talis Shelbourne, Nyesha Stone, Miela Fetaw, Jennifer Rick
Exposing Sexual Harassment

Freedom of Information Award

First Place
Talis Shelbourne, Jennifer Rick, Nyesha Stone, Miela Fetaw, Elizabeth Sloan
Sexual harassment on campus

Website

Second Place

Collegiate Journalist of the Year

Second Place
Talis Shelbourne

Feature Story

First Place
Madison Sepanik, Elizabeth Sloan
Barron, Wisconsin: An Immigration Story

Wisconsin Broadcasters Association

News Story-Writing (TV)

First Place
Anijah White
From Spoken Word to Speaking Out

Feature Story TV

First Place
Sip & Purr Cat Café Brings Feline Fun to Milwaukee

Audio Storytelling-Sound (Radio)

First Place
Kaitlyn Herzog
Santa Cycle Rampage