Students and faculty in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication have recently received various honors and awards.

Jeff Fruit, director of the school, said they use such awards to benchmark the school against other institutions.

“The fact that students are competing on a regional and national level and winning all these awards is a good validation that they’re learning the kinds of things they need to be learning through a combination of classes and student media work,” Fruit said.

Among the students presented with awards was Chris Sharron, a Daily Kent Stater editorial cartoonist.

Sharron was named one of the 100 best student journalists in the United States by UWIRE, a career networking community dedicated to aspiring media talent.

Ben French, general manager of UWIRE, said the main purpose of the UWIRE 100 is to identify talented aspiring journalists and promote them broadly beyond their campus.

Major media outlets took notice of the UWIRE 100, including CNN, CNBC and Sports Illustrated.

Sharron, a junior art education major said he knew he had been nominated, but didn’t know what had been written about him.

“I don’t really have a good judge of how people see me a lot of times,” he said “It’s always cool to find out that they see you even better than you thought they did.”

Kent State’s Public Relations Student Society of america won $5,000 in a statewide competition called “Do It Now.” It was aimed at increasing the number of organ donors in Ohio.

Joe Murray, assistant professor of journalism and mass communication, received a $17,000 citizen media grant by winning a national Broadcast Education association writing competition. His research report discussed strategies universities can use to update their journalism curricula.

Evonne Whitmore, graduate coordinator and associate professor of journalism and mass communication, received a Fulbright Fellowship. She will be going to Egypt for a year to study abroad. Fruit said this is a great honor, and it is the first Fulbright awarded to a member of the faculty.

Contact features editor Anna Duszkiewicz at [email protected].

INFOBOX:

The following student media groups and students received first-place awards from the Society of Professional Journalists;

The CyBurr staff for best affiliated Web site.

The TV2 staff for best television newscast.

Chris Sharron, junior art education major, for editorial cartooning.

Alumnus James Everetts for television feature and for television general news reporting.