SMPA is a pioneering teaching and research leader. Professor Silvio Waisbord is Editor of the International Journal of Press/Politics, an interdisciplinary journal for the analysis and discussion of the role of the press and politics in a globalized world.
Gain access to countless career opportunities
Students at our annual Communications Career Expo network with a CNN recruiter. SMPA helps students pursue rewarding careers in media, journalism, and communications via internships, networking events, and employment workshops.
Collaborate with faculty on research and special projects
Graduate student Rachel Weisel and Professor Kimberly Gross, in partnership with the Project for Excellence in Journalism, studied how the media uses Twitter. Their findings were published in a groundbreaking report that garnered national press coverage.
World-class speakers and events provide invaluable perspective
Students line up outside GW's Lisner Auditorium before Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates speak at an event hosted by SMPA. The event was broadcast on CNN.
Learn and operate industry-standard broadcasting equipment and software
SMPA Faculty and staff use the flash studio for live and recorded professional programming.
World-class speakers and events provide invaluable perspective
Longtime political reporter and broadcaster Gwen Ifill of The Newshour with Jim Lehrer addresses students.
World-class speakers and events provide invaluable perspective
CNN's Christiane Amanpour and SMPA Director Frank Sesno interview five former U.S. Secretaries of State, Madeleine Albright, Colin Powell, Warren Christopher, Henry A. Kissinger and James A. Baker III. The free event was sponsored by SMPA.
Study media in heart of Washington, and the world
SMPA is home to Prime Movers Media, an organization that sends student interns and media professionals to public high schools in Washington, D.C. to teach journalism.
Nina Seavey, director of GW's Documentary Center, has recently won numerous awards for one of her productions, "The War at Home." The film provides at once a sweeping, yet intimate, look at the profound changes brought on by World War II, a transformation that ushered America into the modern era.
Produced for the National Park Service, "The War at Home" will be watched by thousands of people as they visit the National Historical Park in San Francisco, California. It will screen every hour for the next two decades in a theater specifically designed to immerse audiences in the emotional experience of the film.
Here's a listing of the awards the film has won so far:
Silver Telly (first place) - History/Biography
Silver Telly (first place) - Sound/Sound Mix
Bronze Telly (second place) - Set Design
Bronze Telly - (second place) - Screen Writing
Special Jury Prize - Best in Video and Film Production, Worldfest Houston
Gold Communicator Award of Excellence - Screen Writing, International Academy of the Visual Arts
Gold Communicator Award of Excellence - Use of Music, International Academy of the Visual Arts
Silver Communicator Award of Distinction - History/Biography, International Academy of the Visual Arts
Silver Communicator Award of Distinction - Set Design, International Academy of the Visual Arts
This year, we awarded over $80,000 in scholarships and awards to some of our most well-deserving students.
Sherman Page Allen Scholarship
These awards are given to undergraduates who display a desire to specialize in the field of journalism. They were endowed in 1966 through a bequest from the estate of Violet B. Robinson. Ana Cvetkovic
Sarah Ferris
Audrey Scagnelli
Cory Weinberg
Gridiron Foundation Scholarship
These merit-based scholarships were created in 1975 by the Gridiron, a long-standing organization of Washington-based journalists. Stacey Buell
Zinhle Essamuah
Kevin Frey
Brianna Gurciullo
Chanelle Havey
Sophia Omuemu
Amelia Williams
Schneider-Taylor Scholarship
This scholarship, established by the parents of a recent graduate, provides "need-based" aid to an undergraduate in SMPA. Michelle Cho
Philip L. Graham Fund Scholarship for Diversity
Named for the late publisher of the Washington Post, these awards are given to students from underrepresented groups, including women and individuals of diverse backgrounds. Bryan Almeida
Dorothy and Will Roberts Prize
This prize was created by Professor Steve Roberts in the name of his parents. It is given to graduating seniors who have demonstrated academic achievement, professional promise and community service. Ana Buling
Eugenia Finizio
Ian Gray
Hyacinth Mascarenhas
Sandi Moynihan
Amanda Sawit
Elizabeth Traynor
Hoberman Prize
Created by the family of a recent graduate, this is a merit-based award recognizing an SMPA student who has produced original and meaningful journalism. The prize honors reporting that demonstrates depth, originality and a connection to community. Sara Snyder
Eaton Foundation Scholarship
This merit-based scholarship provides aid for both undergraduate and graduate students in the School of Media and Public Affairs. Doug Remley
Kara Dunford
Freedman Family Scholarship
This award was endowed by Mike Freedman, a former vice president of GW and SMPA professor, who is also the father of an SMPA graduate. It is awarded to a student with financial need who wants to become a professional journalist. Elizabeth Rawson
Larry King Scholarship
Created by the former CNN host who never attended college, this award goes to rising seniors with demonstrated financial need who have superior academic records. Ethan Bursofsky
Jillian Harclerode
Eleanor Klibanoff
Henry Morillo
Ali Mortell
Clara Pak
John Torrisi
Casey Wood
Essary Prize
SMPA's oldest prize, created in 1948 to honor the memory of Jesse Frederick Essary, is awarded to students who have given the promise of sound citizenship and ability in forthright reporting. Sarah Ferris, for her many exclusive investigative stories in the GW Hatchet
Ian Gray, for his contributions to the Huffington Post
Eleanor Klibanoff, for her dispatches from Nicaragua, especially her feature about a criminal-turned-artist
SMPA/Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Fellowship
This fellowship awards an undergraduate student up to $4,000 to cover an under-reported international story and to travel to that part of the world to get the facts. Eleanor Klibanoff, who will travel to El Salvador and Nicaragua to report on women's healthcare and the effect of the countries' abortion laws. After abortion was made illegal in 2006, maternal health has declined and the number of mothers under age 15 has risen 48 percent. Klibanoff has interned for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Prague and for The Nicaragua Dispatch. She is a member of GWU's University Honors Program.
Last night Professor Jason Osder's documentary, "Let the Fire Burn," won big at the Tribeca Film Festival, taking home the award for Best Editing in a Documentary Feature, as well as a special jury mention for Best New Documentary Director.
The jury said about the film: "'Let the Fire Burn' tells a story we were stunned to realize we didn't know. It offers a time capsule, taking us to a horrific moment in our nation's history with a masterfully structured edit that vividly mines a trove of blistering period archive images without voiceover narration. The film ensures that a criminal and senseless destruction that cost eleven deaths—five children, six adults—shakes us to our core and is remembered with utter visceral power."
The documentary explores the events leading up to and during the 1985 standoff between the extremist African-American MOVE organization and Philadelphia authorities. The police dropped two pounds of military explosives onto a city row house occupied by members of MOVE; even though firefighters were on site, the fire was not fought for over an hour. The clash between groups, destruction of 61 homes and deaths of 11 people devastated the community.
Zeba Blay of Indiewire wrote, "There have been many documentaries comprised entirely out of archival footage, but few as powerfully and masterfully structured as this one... a visually textured and fascinating piece of storytelling that steers clear of editorialization and manipulation by allowing the content to speak for itself."
It's scholarship and awards time at SMPA! Apply for as many of the opportunities listed below as you feel appropriate. Many of these awards are worth thousands of dollars.
Fill out the online application below and check off as many awards for which you want to be considered. Each application should include the following: a transcript (does not have to be official), a letter outlining your accomplishments, professional goals and an explanation of how you meet the requirements of each award. Where applicable, include a portfolio of published journalistic work. Please read through the application first before beginning it.
All applications should be submitted no later than 8 PM on Friday, March 22.
Larry King Scholarships
Created by the former CNN host who never attended college, this award goes to rising seniors with demonstrated financial need who have superior academic records.
Sherman Page Allen Scholarships
These awards are open to all undergraduate majors if they display a desire to specialize in the field of journalism. They were endowed in 1966 through a bequest from the estate of Violet B. Robinson.
Gridiron Foundation Scholarships
These scholarships were created in 1975 by the Gridiron, a long-standing organization of Washington-based journalists. All undergraduate majors are eligible to apply for these merit-based awards, but consideration will be given to need and minority status.
Schneider-Taylor Scholarship
This scholarship, established by the parents of a recent graduate, provides "need-based" aid to an undergraduate in SMPA.
Eaton Foundation Scholarship
This merit-based scholarship provides aid for both undergraduate and graduate students in the School of Media and Public Affairs.
Philip L. Graham Fund Scholarship for Diversity
Named for the late publisher of the Washington Post, these awards give preference to students from underrepresented groups, including - but not limited to - women and individuals of diverse backgrounds.
Freedman Family Scholarship
This award was endowed by Mike Freedman, a former vice president of GW and SMPA professor, who is also the father of an SMPA graduate. It gives preference to a student with financial need who wants to become a professional journalist.
Essary Prize
SMPA's oldest prize, created in 1948 to honor the memory of Jesse Frederick Essary. It is awarded "to a student who has given promise of sound citizenship and ability in 'forthright reporting.'" This is a writing award, open to all SMPA students, and a portfolio of published or broadcast work outside of class assignments is required.
Hoberman Prize
Created by the family of a recent graduate, this is a merit-based award recognizing an SMPA student who has produced original and meaningful journalism. That work can take any form—print, video, audio, photography or a combination of multimedia platforms. The prize will honor reporting that demonstrates depth, originality and a connection to community—either local or global.
Dorothy and Will Roberts Prize
This prize was created by Professor Steve Roberts in the name of his parents. It is given to graduating seniors who have demonstrated academic achievement, professional promise and community service.
SMPA/Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Fellowship
Are you interested in covering an under-reported international story and traveling to that part of the world to get the facts? Apply now for the 2012-2013 School of Media and Public Affairs/Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting International Reporting Fellowship. All SMPA undergraduates (including current seniors) are now eligible to receive up to $4,000 to report on a story of your choice.
Our partner, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, is interested in reporting projects that focus on topics and regions of global importance, with an emphasis on issues that have gone unreported or under-reported in the mainstream American media. They see great value in covering systemic crises like environmental issues and struggles for resources, human rights abuses, post-conflict reconstruction, or brewing ethnic tensions. They are interested in the stories that would typically not make the headlines without the Pulitzer Center's support.
The Pulitzer Center staff will work with the Fellow to further refine the project and to offer distribution avenues via their online platforms. This could be your chance to be published by multiple news outlets. Applicants must be current SMPA undergraduate majors as of February 2013. All travel should be completed by December 31, 2013.
Read the work of last year's Pulitzer Center Fellow, Melissa Turley, who traveled to South Africa to investigate the lives of women who are playing a role in advancing their country. Watch one of her audio slideshows below.
(Update, 1/2/13, applications are no longer being accepted for this cycle.)
Named in honor of two legendary SMPA faculty members, the new Manheim-Sterling Undergraduate Research Prizes are designed to support and encourage outstanding mentored undergraduate research and creative activity in the School of Media and Public Affairs. The School will award two prizes each academic year, one for a political communication major and one for a journalism/mass communication major. Students must have a faculty mentor for their project or be engaged in collaborative research with a faculty mentor to qualify for these awards. The awards are designed to afford students an opportunity to partake of the many benefits that result from undertaking a serious research project or creative work and from establishing a close mentoring relationship with a faculty member.
Tara Rosenblum (BA ’00) began her career in journalism as a young child in South Florida. “As a little girl, I ran around my neighborhood delivering a newsletter I wrote with crayons,” says Rosenblum. “For as long as I can remember, I wanted to pursue a career in journalism.” Since then, this SMPA alumna has been busy making a name for herself in broadcast news.
Rosenblum works as a reporter and anchor for News 12 Westchester and Hudson Valley Weekend Edition, both in New York. Since she arrived at News 12 in 2004, Rosenblum has earned more than 60 major industry awards, including 3 Emmy wins and another 17 Emmy nominations.
“My fiancé jokes that I am the Meryl Streep of local news Emmys because my number of wins and nominations is the same as her Academy Award wins and nominations,” laughs Rosenblum.
Her most recent Emmy win occurred at this year’s annual New York Emmy Awards ceremony, where she was named Best Writer for a news piece titled “When Cultures Clash.” The story was a culmination of a year and a half of investigative journalism into the conflict between New Square, New York, a community of devout Hasidic Jews, and its secular neighbors. Although Jewish herself, Rosenblum found it difficult to locate anyone in New Square willing to speak with her, either on or off camera. In fact, once she started asking the community questions about reports of zoning law violations, a man from the religious sect tried to run down Rosenblum and her camera crew with his car in an effort to deter further reporting. Nevertheless, Rosenblum persevered, pounding the pavement to cover on the story. The National Society of Professional Journalists, which just honored Rosenblum for her work on “When Cultures Clash” with an award at the National Press Club last week, praised it as “good old-fashioned shoe leather journalism.”
Rosenblum credits her time at the School of Media and Public Affairs for her solid journalistic foundation. Taking advantage of SMPA’s access to great internships in the city, Rosenblum interned at the White House, Capitol Hill, and CNN’s White House news unit while a student. She also formed close bonds with a number of her professors.
“The education I received at SMPA has been so relevant to my career,” says Rosenblum. “In Professor Steve Roberts’ class, for example, we were taught everything from in-depth questioning techniques to how to craft the perfect headline. I use these lessons every day as a reporter.”
She also credits Professor Roxanne Russell, who helped Rosenblum land her first job—covering the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles at CBS News—with launching her professional career. “I was so fortunate to have such great professors like Professor Russell who really believed in me,” says Rosenblum.
Since her time as a student, Rosenblum has embraced the visual power of the television medium, which she believes can illustrate a compelling story. Her philosophy? “If a picture is worth a thousand words,” explains Rosenblum, “then a video must be worth a million words!”
When asked what the most rewarding part of her job is, Rosenblum tells the story of Jason Price, a young resident in the Hudson Valley. According to Rosenblum, Price was diagnosed with a rare and deadly cancer, but his insurance company refused to pay for the experimental treatment that could save his life. After she reported on his plight, local residents joined together to raise the over $50,000 needed to cover his treatment.
"It's all about impacting people on a local level with our reporting,” says Rosenblum. “I don’t think there’s anything more powerful than that.”
Watch Tara Rosenblum's Emmy-winning story "When Cultures Clash" below:
Although many of our students have departed from campus for summer break, SMPA never takes a vacation from collecting accolades. Recently, the Global Media Institute won top prize at the New York Festivals’ 30th Annual Radio Awards and Professor Nina Seavey was named one of the top fifty journalism and communications professors in the country!
Professor Nina Seavey was named a top professor of journalism.
Professor Seavey, director of The Documentary Center, received her latest honor from journalismdegree.org, a career website. The list of professors, many of whom are internationally recognized experts in the field, were honored for their ability to “inspire future reporters and communicators to explore the field of journalism.” Professor Seavey founded the Center in 1990 and has produced many highly acclaimed documentaries on a variety of subjects. Her work has won many awards including an Emmy, the Erik Barnouw Prize for Best Historical Film of the Year, and the Golden Hugo. Seavey also served as the founding director and executive producer of SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival, the largest documentary festival in the US.
Courtesy of the New York Festivals
Also recently, SMPA's Global Media Institute was honored with a Grand Jury Trophy for Best Talk/Interview Special for its production of The Kalb Report: Anchoring 9/11. In this special edition of The Kalb Report, moderator and legendary journalist Marvin Kalb discussed the decade following September 11th with a panel of journalists who covered that tragic day: Charles Gibson (ABC), Dan Rather (CBS), Brit Hume (FOX), and SMPA Director Frank Sesno, who, in 2001, was serving as CNN’s Washington bureau chief. The program, which airs nationally on both Sirius XM Satellite Radio and public television stations, beat out hundreds of broadcasts submitted from around the world to win top honors.
Professor Michael Freedman, executive producer of The Kalb Report, attended the awards ceremony with Kalb to accept the prize—a trophy resembling an art deco radio microphone—on behalf of the Global Media Institute.
“We are deeply touched to be recognized by The New York Festivals which celebrates the most enduring and endearing medium of all – radio,” said Freedman. “To see our students light up when they first feel the magic of the medium is so very special and to have their efforts rewarded with an honor of this magnitude can only deepen their commitment to raise the bar for the next generation.”
This Just In!, another program produced by the Global Media Institute, received a Gold World Medal at the ceremony. The winning entry included a master class conducted last summer by Professor Freedman and Richard C. Hottelet, the remaining living "Murrow Boy."
The Kalb Report: Anchoring 9/11 can be watched below.
Congrats are in order: Angelica Spanos (BA ’09), a video journalist at WBOC-TV, has won the “Outstanding Video Journalist/One Man Band Reporter” award by the Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Association. Way to go Angelica!
This week, the School of Media and Public Affairs honored 31 students with awards and scholarships totaling over $80,000 at the annual SMPA Awards Night. Please join us in congratulating our winners:
Devika Agarwal
Nefi Alarcon
Meg Arellano
Stacie Ann Buell
Ana Buling
Amanda Castroverde
Jacqui Corba
Reid Davenport
Jon Fenech
Lauren French
Ian Gray
Chanelle Havey
Chance Jackson
Aliya Karim
Lindsay Life
Bridgett Lynn
Hyacinth Mascarenas
Sandi Moynihan
Sara Myers
Keith Osentoski
Chelsea Radler
Noah Resnick
Matt Rist
Shivan Sarna
Audrey Scagnelli
Louis Serino
Sara Snyder
Samantha Stone
Saira Thadani
School of Media and Public Affairs/Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Fellowship:
Melissa Turley
2011-2012 SMPA Distinguished Scholar:
Andrea Vittorio
After a competitive application process, Melissa emerged with the winning proposal. Her entry anticipates travel to South Africa later this year to cover the underreported story of how women are playing a role in advancing their country. She will be mentored by professional journalists at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting and will be awarded up to $4,000 for her expenses. We will follow her travel on the blog and report back on her trip!
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