Happy Graduation SPJ DePaul Members

SPJ DePaul executive board members at graduation (from left): Brianna Kelly (secretary, rising president as a master’s student), Ali Trumbull (former president, SPJ DePaul leadership award winner), Monica Carter (outstanding graduate student award winner), Monica Kucera (winner of three DePaul Student Leadership awards), Ryann Rumbaugh (The Red Line Project outstanding reporter award winner).

Several SPJ DePaul members graduated Sunday at DePaul University’s College of Communication commencement at McCormick Place. Among the graduates were members of SPJ DePaul’s executive board (see above).

Congratulations to all of our graduates and be sure to stay involved in SPJ, the College and SPJ DePaul!

Trumbull Receives SPJ DePaul Leadership Award

Ali Trumbull

Outgoing SPJ DePaul President Ali Trumbull took home the SPJ DePaul leadership award Saturday at the DePaul College of Communication graduation brunch at the Union League Club.

The award is given annually to the student executive board member who exhibits strong leadership and journalism skills.

Trumbull, who received a master’s degree in journalism, has been a three-year DePaul executive board member and was one of the founding members. Besides president, she also served as events coordinator and PR/membership director.

The organization has won several awards during her time on the e-board, including the 2011 SPJ National and Region 5 Student Chapter of the Year awards.

As president, the chapter grew to 75 members, one of the largest in the country, and completed all of its required events and programs two months before the required deadline. She’s been nominated for the national SPJ student leadership award, and has conducted student chapter training seminars for the SPJ national Ted Scripps Leadership Institute.

A former intern at the Chicago Tribune Metromix and NBC 5 Chicago investigative unit, Trumbull will start a full-time job as a web producer at the Chicago Sun-Times the day after graduation.

SPJ Depaul Wins Three Student Leadership Awards

SPJ DePaul executive board members (from left) Ali Trumbull, Monica Carter and Monica Kucera with their Socially Responsible Leaders awards.

SPJ DePaul won three awards May 30 at the DePaul Student Leadership Institute’s Socially Responsible Leaders recognition dinner.

The student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists won awards for two events and received honorable mention honors for campus organization of the year, an award it won two years ago.

SPJ DePaul won in the Outstanding Contributions to the DePaul Community Award for its Twitter 101 training with Mark Luckie, Twitter’s director of news. The chapter partnered with the Chicago Sun-Times for the event.

The chapter also won in the Community Service category for its social media training event for high school students at Gordon Tech.

SPJ DePaul has won seven campus leadership awards in the past three years.

SPJ DePaul Freelance Journalism Panel Discussion

SPJ DePaul hosted a panel discussion with Chicago-based freelance journalists on May 20.

Journalists Amy Merrick, Rick Brown, Rhonda Alexander, Karen Kring and Heather Cherone talked to the 25 DePaul students who attended the event about their personal experiences freelancing.

DePaul Wins First SPJ National Mark of Excellence Award

The Red Line Project’s Election 2012 coverage won the SPJ National Mark of Excellence award for best online news reporting on May 1. It was DePaul University’s first national SPJ MOE award.

Twenty-five graduate and undergraduate students worked on the project, which included coverage of President Obama’s acceptance speech, key congressional races, voting trends, maps, a voter’s guide, live blog and a feature story on homeless voters.

DePaul Students Win 16 SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards

SPJ DePaul’s outgoing executive board with some of their Red Line Project and Good Day DePaul awards.

DePaul University College of Communication journalism students won 16 SPJ Region 5 Mark of Excellence Awards Saturday at a ceremony in St. Louis. Region 5 covers schools in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.

First-place finishers advance to the national Mark of Excellence competition and will compete against winners from 11 other regions.

Good Day DePaul

1^st Place: TV In-Depth Reporting (Eva Green)

2^nd Place: Best All-Around TV Newscast

2^nd Place: TV Sports Reporting (Ryann Rumbaugh)

2^nd Place: TV In-Depth Reporting (Courtney Sturgeon)

Third Place: TV Breaking News Reporting (Jenn Schanz)

Third Place: TV Feature Reporting (Dakari Turner)

Red Line Project

1^st Place: Online News Reporting (Election Night Staff Coverage)

1^st Place: Online In-Depth Coverage (Election Night Preview/Voter’s Guide)

2^nd Place: Best Affiliated Website (Red Line Project)

Third Place: Online In-Depth Coverage (NATO Summit Preview Guide)

Third Place: Online Sports Reporting (Chicago Sidelines/The Red Line Project Staff)

The DePaulia

1^st Place: Feature Photography (Joanie Faletto)

2^nd Place: Best All-Around Non-Daily Student Newspaper

2^nd Place: Breaking News Photography (Bartosz Brzezinski)

Third Place: General News Photography (Grant Myatt)

Third Place: Feature Writing (Joanie Faletto)

SPJ DePaul Announces 2013-14 Executive Board

SPJ DePaul announced its new executive board members on April 13. The new board takes control immediately and will oversee events, programs and day-to-day operations of the chapter. The board members:

President: Brianna Kelly

Vice President: Jakub Rudnik

Secretary: Rima Mandwee

Events/Programming Coordinator: Rae Kirby

Membership/PR Coordinator: Tyler Carter