UK Journalism Students Win Big at Kentucky Associated Press Broadcast Awards

Lexington, Ky. (June 6, 2016) — University of Kentucky students are known for their successes in the classroom and on the court. Now students in the School of Journalism and Telecommunications in the UK College of Communication and Information can add broadcasting to those categories.

For two years now, since the award has been in existence, a UK journalism student has won the coveted Best in Show award in the College TV category at the Kentucky Associated Press Broadcasters Awards. This year, the honor and a scholarship went to Meredith Helline. Last year, Sabirah Rayford shared the award with a Western Kentucky University student.

Adding to UK’s accolades was a sweep in the Best News Story TV category. Helline won both first place with her story “The Light of Jonathan Krueger” and second place with her “Remembering Officer Ellis” story. Rayford rounded out the top three with her piece “Campus Racism.”

Helline also took top honors in the Best College Television Reporter category with Rayford finishing third.

Casey Parker-Bell added another achievement to the list of firsts with his win in the Best College Newscast category. No UK student had previously won top prize in this category.

Rayford’s “Campus Racism” feature placed second in the Best Public Affairs TV category and Emily Markanich’s “Housing First” story placed third in the category.

UK students in the College Radio Contest did not disappoint either. Lee Mengistu’s piece titled “Childhood Sexual Abuse” placed third in the Best College Radio Reporter category while counterpart Noah Richard placed third for Best College Newscast Radio division.

The Best Public Affairs Radio division award was a near sweep for radio entries with the team of Alexa Wingate, Caitlin Schwartz and Lillie Ruschell placing in the top spot with their “Vaccinations” feature and the team of Richard, Mengistu and Riley Miller taking third with “The Cost of Housing.”

“When you look at where we won in TV and radio, what is clear is that we outperform other schools in hard news and public affairs (issues) reporting. And that is huge,” said Mel Coffee, associate professor of broadcast journalism.

Multi-year student winner Rayford couldn’t agree more.

“It’s truly an honor to win two years in a row," she said. "I can not only see my growth, but the growth as a program. Winning three awards this year is an amazing achievement and I am thankful for the support I have from Mel Coffee, Kakie Urch, Scoobie Ryan and Mike Farrell."

The Kentucky Associated Press Broadcasters Awards were held on April 30, at the Galt House in downtown Louisville. A complete list of collegiate winners is available here: http://discover.ap.org/contests/kentucky-broadcast.

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MEDIA CONTACT: Whitney Harder, 859-323-2396, whitney.harder@uky.edu