West Virginia University’s P.I. Reed School of Journalism students continue to shine in national competitions.

Kasey Hott, a December, 2009 broadcast news graduate is the third School of Journalism student in as many years to break the top 10 in the annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program.

Hott placed eighth in the broadcast news features category of the 2009-2010 competition, which includes students from 40 journalism schools across the country.

Her Morgantown-based stories, “Morgantown’s Water Quality” and “A Recession-Proof City,” earned her a $500 cash prize and matching grant for WVU. Both stories ran on the student produced newscast “WVU News,” which is available on WVU’s YouTube page at http://www.youtube.com/westvirginiau.

Hott, a native of High View, Hampshire County, works as a reporter for NBC 29 WVIR-TV in Charlottesville, Va.

David Ryan, a May, 2009 news-editorial graduate, won 19th place in the editorial writing category. His editorial, “Farewell, Facebook,” ran in a March 2009 edition of The Daily Athenaeum (online at http://www.thedaonline.com/farewell-facebook-1.706373), WVU’s student newspaper.

Ryan, from Duck in Clay County, is currently seeking a second degree in Professional Writing and Editing at WVU. He serves as the Athenaeum’s editor-in-chief.

The Hearst Awards Program is the premier competition for college journalism. Awards are presented annually under the auspices of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC) with full funding by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. The program’s mission is to encourage and support excellence in journalism and journalism education in America’s colleges and universities.

-WVU-
cv/01/15/09

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CONTACT: Kimberly Brown, School of Journalism
304-293-3505 ext. 5403