2025 Awards

Congratulations to our award-winning students and faculty!

Student Awards

March 2025

Staff Recognition:

  • BROADCAST: News Program
    • First Place – UMTV: Decision Day: Election 2024
  • Feature Magazine (four-year campus)
    • First Place – Distraction
  • Yearbook
    • First Place – Ibis
  • Website (four-year campus, 15,000 or fewer)
    • Tenth Place – Distraction

Individual Recognition:

  • BROADCAST: News Story
    • First Place – Regina Potenza
  • DESIGN: Magazine
    • Second Place – Sal Puma, Marra Finkelstein
    • Sixth Place – Sal Puma, Marra Finkelstein
    • Seventh Place – Sal Puma
    • Eighth Place – Lizzie Kristal
  • BROADCAST: Sports Story
    • Third Place – Manny Naccarato
  • REPORTING: Feature Story
    • Third Place – Samantha Rodriguez
    • Ninth Place – Lauren Ferrer, Jenny Jacoby
  • ADVERTISEMENT: Print, Online, Video, Audio
    Cover
    • Third Place – Marita Gavioti, Sal Puma
    • Ninth Place – Jake Sperling
  • PHOTOJOURNALISM: Sports Photo
    • Third Place – Ava Stroshane
    • Eighth Place – Reese Putnam
    • Tenth Place – Emily Rice
  • PHOTOJOURNALISM: News/Feature Photo
    • Fourth Place – Jake Sperling
    • Eighth Place – Jake Sperling
  • BROADCAST: Feature Story
    • Fifth Place – Regina Potenza
  • DESIGN: Yearbook
    • Fifth Place – Kendall Bagmon, Carolina Camus, Jake Sperling
    • Sixth Place – Carolina Camus
    • Seventh Place – Isabelle Fitzpatrick
    • Ninth Place – Isabelle Fitzpatrick
  • DESIGN: Newspaper/Newsmagazine
    • Seventh Place – Charlotte Deangelis
  • REPORTING: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
    • Seventh Place – Lauren Ferrer, Jenny Jacoby
  • REPORTING: News Story
    • Eighth Place – Jenny Jacoby
  •  

Winners:

  • Best Yearbook Cover
    • First Place
    • Ibis Yearbook
  • Best Feature Website
    • First Place
    • Distraction
  • Best Magazine
    • First Place
    • Distraction
  • Best Yearbook Spread
    • Second Place
    • Ibis Yearbook
  • Best Opinion Column
    • Honorable Mention
    • The Miami Hurricane
  •  

February 2025

Gold Winners:

  • Sarita Dip House – Brand Identity Campaign by Sara Kelly
  • Airbnb Gather – Digital Brand Experience by Abby Pak, Annie Volpe, Amber Quettan, and Sara Kagan

Silver Winners:

  • Takt Men’s Skincare – Brand Identity Campaign by Abby Pak, Cayla Todes, and Sara Kagan 
  • The Baddest Duo – Brand Activation by Abby Pak, Amber Quettan, and Veronica Benarroch  
  • Polaroid Strut Down Memory Lane – Brand Activation by Alli Van Rossem and Maggie Dobra 
  • Vacation Sunscreen – Backyard Leisure– Photography Campaign by Lani Silsdorf

faculty Awards

Randy Stano, Professor of Professional Practice of Journalism and Media Management

  • Lifetime Achievement in Scholastic Journalism – This award is given to a member or members of the scholastic journalism community who have spent their professional lives serving the educational ideals for which we all strive: teaching the importance of, and ultimately the preservation of, a free press in our democratic society.

Dr. Victoria Orrego Dunleavy, Associate Professor of Communication Studies

  • Awarded $50K for pilot study, “Implementation and Evaluation of a Pilot Group Prenatal Care Program to Address Bias and Improve Minority Maternal Health Outcomes.” This study introduces Group Prenatal Care (GPNC) to the Uhealth/Jackson health system, aiming to reduce clinician bias and improve maternal health outcomes for low-risk patients. GPNC has been proven effective in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity through increased patient-provider contact and diverse, patient-led group settings.

Nicholas Carcioppolo, Associate Professor of Communication Studies

  • Enhancing Early Detection of Nail Unit Malignancies: Educating Nail Technicians Through Advanced Certification and Health Communication Intervention – $30K Award

Rhonda Trust, Lecturer of Communication Studies

  • Social Media to Improve Recruitment in Clinical Studies and Community Health – $30K Award

Sanjeev Chatterjee, Professor of Cinematic Arts

  • NET-AI, an AI-informed, spatially explicit, social network-based communication simulation model designed to increase breast cancer clinical trial participation among underrepresented populations, specifically Black and Latino communities – $30K Award

Yanfang Wu, Assistant Professor of Journalism and Media Management

  • Leveraging Digital Social Influencer for Addressing Mental Health Challenges: A Social Media Messaging Approach – $1K Award

Edmund J. Talavera, Professor of Cinematic Arts

  • Addressing HEAT (Heat-Related Education & Awareness Together) – A Public Health Communication Campaign for Heat-Related Health Risks & Illnesses – $1K Award

Margaret Cardillo, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice of Cinematic Arts

  • Earned the top $50,000 prize from the Miami Film Festival’s The Louies competition, to create her upcoming documentary, “Jane Chastain: The Untold Story of the Nation’s First Female Sportscaster”