Two students who have reported stories at WUFT-FM and WUFT-TV are national award winning student journalists, after competiting in the finals of the Hearst Intercollegiate Journalism Awards competition in San Francisco this week.
Trent Kelly, a junior from Tampa finished second nationally in the radio news competition. Clark Fouraker, a recent graduate, finished as a finalist(top five) in the television news category. They were assigned a story to complete in San Francisco, and were judged by Hearst radio and television news excutives. The awards were given Thursday night. Also, Matt Walsh, a photojournalism student, finished second nationally in the photo category.
Kelly competed in the radio broadcast news division after being selected as a finalist for his production of “Airboat Curfew,” a story about Alachua County’s controversial noise ordinance.
Kelly has garnered other awards for the airboat broadcast. He received first place in the college division of SPJ’s Mark of Excellence regional awards and will compete in the national SPF finals later this year.
In addition, the broadcast won first prize in the hard news category at the Regional RTDNA (Region 13) competition and will compete for the national RTDNA Edward R. Murrow Award, and first place in the hard news category at the Florida Associated Press Broadcasters competition. FAPB also awarded Kelly an individual achievement award in the professional category.
Kelly won the College’s Kenneth A. Christiansen award for his work at WUFT-TV and WUFT-FM. He is interning this summer with NBC/Universal in New York.
Clark Fouraker was one of five students in the television broadcast news finals. He served as the bureau chief of ABC News on Campus at UF and worked as an anchor and reporter at WUFT-TV. He also spent time as a radio news reporter for WRUF-AM and WUFT-FM.
At the College’s recent awards ceremony, Fouraker received the John Quattlebaum Award for the Outstanding Student at WUFT-TV news. Matt Walsh won first place in Hearst’s Photo I – Portrait/Personality, Feature, and “Personal Vision” category to earn his way into the finals in the overall photojournalism division.
Matt has received several awards while at UF, including the Dean’s Cup for Professional Promise and and the Elmer Emig Award for Professional Promise, one of the top awards selected by department of journalism faculty.
He was a first place winner in the Ultimate Energizer Photo Contest by National Geographic and received an Award of Excellence in the general news category of College Photographer of the Year.
Matt co-founded a newspaper at UF, The Fine Print, which won best new college newspaper in its first year of print. The Fine Print is an alternative monthly newspaper in Gainesville that covers all facets of the local scene, including news (on and off campus), art, music, politics, social consciousness, and sustainability.