UK Journalism Students Continue Winning Tradition at Kentucky Associated Press Broadcast Awards

University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Media students in the UK College of Communication and Information brought home 10 awards, including the prestigious Tom Peterson Memorial Scholarship, at the 2017 Kentucky Associated Press Broadcasters Association Awards held in April.

That’s quite a feat considering there are only eight (college) radio categories and eight (college) television categories.

Leading the list of winners was a first place showing in the Best College TV Newscast category for a UK Student News Network broadcast produced by Noah Richard. He also took second place in Public Affairs TV for his story explaining the 2016 Kentucky Republican presidential caucus.

Marc Thomas placed first in Best TV News Story with “Trinity Gay Memorial Service” about the shooting of the Lafayette High School student and track athlete Trinity Gay, daughter of Olympian and Lexington-native Tyson Gay.

Sofie Tapia took second place in Best College TV Feature Story for her coverage of “Artisanal Crafts in Berea.”

UK swept the Best Public Affairs Radio category. The judges awarded first place to the team of Noah Richard and Morgan Henry for “Campus Voices: Ovarian Cancer Awareness”; second place to Melissa Payne, Stepper Toth and Caitlin Schwartz for “Campus Voices: Student Debt and Graduation Rates”; and third place to Penny Schmitz and Caitlin Schwartz for “Campus Voices: Kentucky Rape Kit Backlog.”

Richard also took second place in the Best College Radio Reporter category.

Lee Mengistu rounded out the radio awards with a third-place finish in the Best Feature Story category for “Tikur Traveler: The Young Folks.”

Mengistu was also awarded the Tom Peterson Memorial Scholarship, the first UK student to win that award.

UK School of Journalism and Media Professor and Interim Director Mike Farrell noted that while the faculty are proud of the awards, they are more proud of the deserving students who earned them.

“They are dedicated journalists, and, despite everything the critics say about the future, we are optimistic about our profession because of the young men and women, award-winners or no, who work hard in our classrooms and develop the skills, the passion and the commitment to make a difference in our world,” Farrell added.

“I'm especially proud of our broadcast faculty — professors Kakie Urch, Scoobie Ryan, Mel Coffee and Andrew Dawson — who teach and mentor with that same passion and commitment,” Farrell said.

The full list of award winners can be found here: http://discover.ap.org/contests/kentucky-broadcast.