USU Journalism Student Receives National Award for Feature Writing

The Society of Professional Journalists announced the national winners of the 2012 Mark of Excellence Awards, recognizing collegiate work published or broadcasted during 2012. USU journalism student MacKenzie Hamliton’s article on a young man’s mission to help the street children of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was chosen out of 4,600 entries.

“Mackenzie’s article was reported during our trip to Africa in the summer of 2012,” said USU JCOMM professor Mathew LaPlante. “The story is about a young man named Jason Burton who has dedicated the better part of his 20s to working to get children off the streets of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, one of the world’s poorest cities.”

Hamilton’s work was published in several publications but the version that appeared in The Oregonian won the SPJ’s national Mark of Excellence award for feature writing. Hamilton is a student in USU’s Department of Journalism and Communication, a program in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Related links:

• Hamilton’s story
• The Society of Professional Journalists
• USU Department of Journalism and Communication
• USU College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Matthew LaPlante, matthew.laplante@usu.edu