Undergraduate student Caleb Fleming wins Scripps Howard collegiate reporting prize
The Scripps Howard Foundation has announced that Collegiate Times writer Caleb Fleming, of Warrenton, Va., a junior majoring in economics in the College of Science at Virginia Tech, has been awarded a 10-day journalism study trip to Japan.
Fleming is one of the nine winners of its annual Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition for college journalists.
The winners, whose entries represent print, broadcast, and online media, were chosen from a national field of competitors. Judges took into consideration the quality of their work, an essay about their interest in international affairs, and letters of recommendation. Sue Porter, vice president of programs at the Scripps Howard Foundation, said that, in addition to Fleming’s body of work, the judges were impressed that an economics major was such a fine journalist. “His dedication to the Collegiate Times was especially noteworthy,” she said. “Students of his caliber are typically journalism majors.”
Fleming, who has worked for the Collegiate Times for the past three years as a reporter and news editor, said the award will expand his understanding of the world and different cultures. “It will be the chance of a lifetime for me to grow as an individual and as a reporter, and the trip will be an opportunity for me to follow my own personal story to Japan, where I will be able to see and pursue journalism from a perspective vastly different from the one I have developed in the world of southwestern Virginia,” Fleming said.
In 2009, Fleming was named the National College Reporter of the Year by the Associated Collegiate Press, the highest individual honor for a collegiate journalist. He says he plans to continue to write for the Collegiate Times during the 2010-2011 academic year. An archive of Fleming’s work for the Collegiate Times is available online.
The expense-paid trip to Japan will be led by Bradley J. Hamm, dean of the journalism school at Indiana University and a Roy W. Howard scholar, who has extensive travel experience throughout Asia. Travel begins June 11 and includes excursions in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Hiroshima, site of the first atomic bomb dropped on any city, where events to mark the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II are planned for the students.
Students will meet with journalists in print, broadcast, and online journalism, and see the latest in new media technology. They will visit one of the largest newspapers in the world and Asian reporting bureaus for international media.
Mike Philipps, president and CEO of the Scripps Howard Foundation, said the prize responds to the need for today's student journalists to better understand international affairs, adding that of the nearly 250,000 American students who study abroad each year, only about 10 percent select a country in Asia.
The competition, established in 1984 in cooperation with the Indiana University School of Journalism, honors the memory of the journalist who led Scripps Howard Newspapers from 1922-1953 and United Press International from 1912-1920. Howard's 1933 interview with the Emperor of Japan was the first ever by an American. "We are honoring the legacy of Roy Howard with this reporting award because he lived a global life as a reporter and editor long before most journalism schools taught about international reporting," said Hamm.
Dedicated to excellence in journalism, the Scripps Howard Foundation is a leader in industry efforts in journalism education, scholarships, internships, literacy, minority recruitment and development, and First Amendment causes. It is the corporate foundation of The E.W. Scripps Company, a diverse, 131-year-old media enterprise with interests in television stations, newspapers, local news, information websites, licensing, and syndication.
