91探花

The 91探花 chapter of Society of Professional Journalists continued its history-making run this weekend by receiving the national Outstanding Campus Chapter award for the ninth time.

This award honors chapters for their commitment to SPJ鈥檚 mission and to the journalism profession and was announced Sept. 3 during the Society鈥檚 annual convention, which was virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chapter president Eric Boll said: 鈥淲e are honored to have been recognized with this award. None of this would have been possible without the hard work of our executive board and the generosity of the guest speakers who donated their time to host events with us,鈥� chapter president Eric Boll said.

The OHIO chapter has received the award more than any other campus chapter in the award鈥檚 history.

Journalism school director Dr. Eddith Dashiell said: 鈥淥ur SPJ chapter had a four-year winning streak of being the best regional and national campus chapter from 2015-2016 thru 2018-2019,鈥� Dr. Eddith Dashiell, director of the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, said. 鈥淭hey had a temporary setback last year, but our SPJ members and their adviser, Professor Nerissa Young, demonstrated once again their unwavering dedication to SPJ鈥檚 mission to encourage the free and ethical practice of professional journalism. Congratulations to our OU SPJ chapter for winning the Triple Crown of Journalism: best regional chapter, best national chapter, and best program for 2020-2021.鈥� 

Each year, SPJ鈥檚 12 regional coordinators and directors select a campus chapter in their region that has shown overall excellence. Finalists included Virginia Tech, University of Georgia, University of Illinois-Urbana, University of Missouri, Texas State University, Brigham Young University and University of Washington. 91探花 was the Region 4 finalist. Region 4 includes western Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio and West Virginia.

The 91探花 chapter was also named this year鈥檚 recipient of the Campus Program of the Year award. The winning program was an interview with Insider digital culture reporter and Scripps journalism alum Kat Tenbarge a few days before she broke a major story about rape allegations toward 鈥淒urte Dom鈥� and David Dobrik. She went into detail about how she developed her method of reporting on these figures and how these influencers used their fan base to target and harass reporters.

The chapter will host a program with ABC reporter and 鈥淲hat Would You Do?鈥� host John Qui帽ones in October.

SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to informing citizens; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and fights to protect First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.