Three Journalism Majors Win Mark of Excellence Award

On Saturday, Nov. 14, Journalism alums Julie Conlon, Brittany Ballantyne, and Zach Wynn, all 2014 grads, received the Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence 2014 First Place Award for General News Reporting (Small—institutions under 10,000 students) for their continuing investigative reporting during 2014. Yale and Swarthmore placed second and third, respectively, in the category.

Condon and Ballantyne were executive editors for the Equinox when they worked on the stories, and Wynn was sports editor. As you’d expect, learning to conduct such award-winning reporting has had a profound effect on their education and career-building.

“I think I can speak for Brittany and Zach when I say writing these stories has been the most important thing I have ever done in my career,” said Conlon, now a writer and Social Media Specialist for Dealer.com in Burlington, Vt. “It was never about the flashy headline, the stunning quote, or the graphic stories and images. From start to finish, this team demonstrated an intellectual capability to take a disturbing incident and turn it into a story that can and did provide change and hope.”

“These stories absolutely could not have been done without the overwhelming support and guidance of the journalism department,” Ballantyne, now a reporter/photographer for The Valley Breeze, a Rhode Island newspaper, explained.” The Equinox advisors, Julio Del Sesto and Rodger Martin, worked tirelessly with us for hours on end as we put these stories out. Conlon, Wynn, and I were all seniors when this package was published, and the entire journalism department prepared us for what was a defining moment in our careers. From day one, these professors had both inspired and challenged me, and shaped me into the story teller—and person—I am today.”

“I learned a lot throughout the course of the stories,” said Wynn, now a writer for Campus Safety Magazine, a trade publication for security professionals in healthcare and education. “I filed multiple right-to-know requests, sifted through piles of documents, and dealt with very sensitive legal subjects, and those aren’t things you typically do for a class assignment (although class assignments prepared me well for it all). Before each story was published, Professor Marianne Salcetti walked through basically every sentence with me and helped me make the stories air tight; I can’t give her enough credit.”