INDIANAPOLIS (August 23, 2010) – The Society of Professional Journalists announced this week that Jenny Unbi You, a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, will receive SPJ’s 2010 Julie Galvan Outstanding Graduate in Journalism Award.
You was said to excel in her studies and made a significant mark at UWEC and in her community as a journalist and active SPJ member. She will be recognized Oct. 4 at the Mark of Excellence Awards Luncheon held during the 2010 SPJ Convention and National Journalism Conference in Las Vegas.
You joined SPJ in fall 2008 and served as the university chapter’s vice-president for broadcast during the 2009 spring semester. As the chapter president, her enthusiasm and leadership increased the chapter’s membership and the officer team’s efforts to organize two major events during the 2010 spring semester.
The first event was a panel on the promises and challenges of social media. You was directly involved in arranging the visit and participation of Christine Boese, a nationally known authority on social media, and the Skype participation of a television reporter who has been a leader in using social media both as a source of information and to promote his station’s news operations.
The second event was a First Amendment Free Food Festival. Students and others who take part in the festival “sign away” their First Amendment rights in return for free food. Working with the SPJ Executive Board, You recruited eight other campus organizations as co-sponsors and participants. She also took the lead in arranging for the lunch to be donated by the food service contractor at UW-Eau Claire.
At the end of her term as chapter president, You helped to prepare two officers for this year’s leadership responsibilities. She also influenced several members in organizing bake sale fund-raisers, as well as planning and producing the programs necessary to meet national SPJ requirements.
You is a Broadcast Journalism and Women’s Studies dual major. For her first two years, You was active with the campus dormitory TV channel as a campus, entertainment and weather reporter. She held an internship at the local NBC affiliate, and for the past two summers she has volunteered at the summer camp run by Eau Claire’s Hmong Mutual Assistance Association.
Since February 2009, You has been involved with the Communication and Journalism Department’s New Media Research Project. Her project team later evolved into the Digital Newsroom Project group, which provided advice for faculty members who were working to converge the department’s print, broadcast and photography curricula.
The Award is named in memory of Julie Galvan, a former president of the SPJ San Jose State University Campus Chapter who was killed in a car accident in 1996 while on her way to an internship. At the close of the college year, each campus chapter of SPJ selects one graduate in journalism who is outstanding in his or her class on the basis of character, community service, scholarship, proficiency in practical journalism and significant contributions to the chapter.
From this group, SPJ national leadership selects one graduate who is considered most outstanding for national recognition.
Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press. www.spj.org
