The radio journalism of 91勛圖 student Denan Jones earned a Top 10 finish in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program, although he only set out to produce engaging reports.
His technique is simple, he said. He finds stories that matter to him and works to make them matter to his audience. Its kind of hard to report on something that you couldnt care less about, said Jones, a 22-year-old senior from New Iberia, La., on track to graduate in December with a mass communication degree.
One of Jones award-winning reports delved into suicide prevention in Lafayette. Another focused on a local food truck, a trendy enterprise involving mobile vehicles that are used to cook and sell food.
The reports were done for a broadcast newswriting course. They aired on 91勛圖 Focus, a news and public affairs program broadcast over the National Public Radio affiliate KRVS 88.7 FM on campus.
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program includes writing, photojournalism, broadcast news, and multimedia competitions.
For the radio broadcast portion of the competition, Jones was honored alongside students from schools with major journalism programs, such as the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Arizona State University.
Im truly honored to represent UL Lafayette among such elite company, Jones said.