UK students take on Sweet 16 coverage
LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 6, 2025) — At the UK HealthCare Boys’ Sweet 16 Basketball Tournament at Rupp Arena, students from two University of Kentucky journalism courses collaborated to provide real-time, professional-level coverage of one of the state’s most iconic sporting events through an innovative new program called GameOn UK.
Under the guidance of Assistant Professor Jen Smith and Associate Professor David Stephenson, 23 students from Sports Reporting and Editing and News and Sports Photography courses operated as a fully functioning newsroom on-site.
“I’m a firm believer in creating experiences for students,” Stephenson said. “We thought covering a tournament would be an intense but fun way for students to learn in real time under deadline pressures.”
“There’s no better training to be a sportswriter or a sports photographer than by actually doing the work," Smith said. “They got that experience, whether it was asking questions at a postgame press conference, writing on deadline or capturing the winning shot in overtime, they did real journalism.”
The workshop, made possible through a partnership between the School of Journalism and Media in the College of Communication and Information (CI) and the Kentucky High School Athletic Association, had an impact beyond the classroom. Student photos were distributed immediately after each game and published by outlets such as the Lexington Herald-Leader, regional media and participating high schools.
Community newspapers across Kentucky also benefited, including The Oldham Era and Henry County Local.
“As a small paper, we have a small staff, and having additional photographers covering the games allowed us to share a lot more photos than we normally would have been able to,” said Jane Ashley Pace, a 2011 CI graduate and publisher of both papers and regional advertising director for Paxton Media Group. “We also loved being able to give the students a byline in our newspaper and on our website that they can use in their portfolio.”
To further showcase student work, Downtown Studio in Central Bank Center displayed images daily on its large monitor, giving thousands of visiting students and families a front-row look at the content UK journalism students were producing in real time.
“We wanted the public to see the kind of opportunities available in our program,” Smith said. “It also turned into a powerful recruiting tool for our school, the studio and our growing sports media offerings.”
Ten of the 14 participating student photographers had never photographed a basketball game before the tournament, she said.
“They learned they could do hard things on deadline,” Smith said. “Students sat side-by-side on the sidelines of Rupp Arena with professional photographers. Our writing students worked in the same media workroom and sat on the same press row as the working professionals. It was a great opportunity to see how the professionals do their jobs.”
For journalism junior Casey Sebastiano, the experience was transformative.
“Rupp Arena is such a historic arena, and it means so much to not just basketball, but the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Sebastiano said. “The photojournalists I look up to have shot games on the floor of Rupp Arena and all of a sudden, I was shooting games on the floor of Rupp Arena.”
Seeing the students have that experience made the long week extra special for Stephenson.
“I loved watching the student photographers’ reactions when they know they captured a great moment,” the long-time photojournalist said. “They were really enjoying themselves and it was a joy to watch. One of my favorite unexpected moments was when the students started coaching and supporting each other during the games. They were learning something useful and then immediately helping each other with what they had learned in a previous game.”
Right until the very end, after the crowds had cleared and the court was being torn down, the journalism students stayed focused, editing photos and finishing stories on the arena floor.
“The facilities crew was tearing down tables, goals and electrical cords all around our students as they were finishing up their final edits of the championship game,” Smith said. “There’s no tighter deadline than that.”
Reflecting on her experience, Sebastiano emphasized how the immersive, real-time environment accelerated her learning.
“I’m a super hands-on learner, so I honestly feel like it was exactly what I needed,” Sebastiano said. “Participating in this workshop helped me solidify the smaller things, the building blocks.”
For local publishers like Pace, the value of the program extends well past tournament week.
“I think this was a brilliant idea,” Pace said. “It’s a win-win for everyone. It gets students valuable hands-on experience and helps small papers at the same time. There’s no better way for the future of our industry to learn and truly experience journalism than in the field, or in this case, on the court or sideline.”
Looking ahead, Smith and Stephenson are already exploring ways to expand the program’s reach.
“I’ve covered hundreds of basketball and football games in my career, but I’ve never had more fun than watching the students do it for the first time,” Smith said. “I’m so excited to see how we can continue to grow this opportunity in the future.”
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.