UH Manoa journalism students win FOX News Challenge

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Jay Hartwell, (808) 956-3217
Student Media Adviser
Gerald Kato
Associate Professor of Journalism
Posted: Apr 23, 2009

Two University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa journalism seniors have won a national award of $10,000 in the Sixth Annual Fox News Channel College Challenge for their news video on Native Hawaiian independence and the Akaka Bill.

The students, Casey Chin and Meghan Lopez, will receive their award on Friday, April 24, 2009, during a live taping of the "Fox and Friends" morning show in New York. They are scheduled to appear sometime between 8:30-9 a.m. EST with the shows anchors. During their appearance on the show, they will talk about their winning entry and their experiences.

Chin and Lopez will be accompanied by Jay Hartwell, publications adviser for the student newspaper, Ka Leo O Hawaiʻi. They receive the $10,000 scholarship awarded to the winning team and an additional $10,000 to support student journalism programs at UH Mānoa.

The Fox News Channel College Challenge requires teams of two to four students to report, write and produce an objective broadcast news story. A panel from Fox News Channel judged the dozens of entries submitted from universities and colleges across the country.

Chin, 23, of Sacramento, Calif., and Lopez, 21, of Littleton, Colo., are broadcast journalism majors who heard about the contest last year, and decided to work on a story about Native Hawaiian sovereignty and the controversy over the Akaka Bill.

Working with resources provided by the UH Mānoa School of Communications‘ Media Lab and Ka Leo O Hawaiʻi, the two—with assistance from fellow student Steven Tonthat—used Sony PD-170 cameras to shoot more than 13 hours of tape. They logged and edited what they had down to a three-minutes story to meet the requirements of the Fox competition.

Lopez, who was an intern at 9News (KUSA) in Denver last summer, also is one of three college journalists selected to join 12 professionals to travel as fellows through Germany this summer in a program sponsored by Radio and Television News Directors Foundation and RIAS Berlin Kommission. The Fox News Channel College Challenge award is among a number of honors awarded to UH journalism students this year. Ka Leo this month was awarded the first place award for college newspapers in the 2009 Hawaiʻi Publishers Association competition.

To view the winning news video, go to the Fox Web site at http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/22124128/college-challenge.htm#q=college+challenge.

For more information, visit: http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/22124128/college-challenge.htm#q=college+challenge