Category Archives: Awards

Knight Center awards new round of documentary grants

The Knight Center for Environmental Journalism has awarded three $3,500 documentary grants to MSU faculty-student teams.

The winning projects were chosen from seven proposals submitted in a campus-wide competition:

“Teachers as Agents of Change.” The film will document future K-12 teachers’ progression to seeing themselves as change agents in regards to environmental decision-making. Faculty: Jane Rice, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, and Laura Markham, Center for Integrative Studies in General Science. Students: Abigail Barrett and Andrea Rickard, Special Education and Elementary Education

“Poop to Power.” The film will look at the environmental impacts of animal and human waste and feature an innovative facility in Washington, D.C., that converts human waste into energy. Faculty: Geri Alumit Zeldes, Troy Hale and Mike Castellucci, School of Journalism. Students: Zach Barnes, Ilene Gould, Evan Kutz, Lizzy LaFave and Audrey Matusz, Journalism.

“Forest of the Worms.” The documentary will highlight vermicomposting as a way to reduce the amount of food waste dumped in landfills each year. Faculty: Laurie Thorp, Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment. Students: John Pynnonen, Civil Engineering; Alex Marx, Environment Studies and Sustainability; and Benjamin Hatley, Mechanical Engineering.

In addition to public dissemination of the projects, the Knight Center will use the documentaries on its website and for presentation in classes, workshops and other center activities.
This is the fourth year of the center’s grant competition.

Alums snare top prize for film on endangered sea turtles

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By Steven Maier
Michigan State alums and sibling filmmakers Laura and Rob Sams have won Best Engaging Youth Film at the Jackson Hole Film Festival for the second time in their careers
Their short children’s film, “My Haggan Dream,” follows a girl as she learns about the life cycle of the endangered sea turtles of Saipan, the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands in the West Pacific.

My Hagan Dream

“I think we were a bit surprised we won this year because we were up against some really good films,” Laura said.
Laura was there at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming that night to receive the award. She announced the victory with a text to her brother, who had stayed at home in Portland, Oregon, to care for his wife, who would give birth to their second son the next day.
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Open call for proposals for high school journalism and environmental science collaborations

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To encourage collaboration between high school journalism and environmental science classes, we invite teachers to submit proposals for innovative class projects in which journalism students will report about field research by environmental science students. Our principal goals are:

to help young prospective journalists better understand and explain to the public how science is done
to help environmental science students learn to use the media to explain their work to the public.
to promote environmental and science journalism

The Knight Center intends to award 1-year competitive grants of $2,000 to up to 3 high schools: $1,000 to the journalism program and $1,000 to the environmental science program for equipment, software or scholarships. There is a possibility of renewal for 1 or 2 more years. In addition, the Knight Center will pair each school with a professional journalist to serve as a mentor to participating students and teachers.

Here are the details:

Your proposal must include a project description (750 words maximum), the names and contact information for a partnering journalism and environmental science teacher from the same high school; grade levels of participating classes; and the estimated number of students in the participating classes. A proposal form is attached.
Your projects must generate student-produced news or feature stories with visuals (photos and/or graphics) for print, online, audio and/or video that your school will disseminate. The Knight Center will also disseminate these stories to the public through our website, and some stories may be posted on Great Lakes Echo (www.greatlakesecho.org), the center’s award-winning online regional environmental news service.
Grantees must comply with MSU financial reporting procedures.
Grantees (students, teachers and professional mentors) must attend a one-day workshop at
MSU in Fall 2018.
Application deadline: December 1, 2017. Awards will be announced by January 31, 2018.
Projects should begin in February 2018 and be completed with a final report by the end of
December 2018. A progress report is required by June 15, 2018.
Read about the successful 2016-2017 grantees at http://j-school.jrn.msu.edu/kc/2017/03/21/two-high-schools-win-journalism-environmental-science-grants-from-the-knight-center/

Send along a Grant Application Cover Sheet with the following information:

School name and address
Participating journalism teacher (name, email, phone)
Participating environmental science teacher (name, email, phone)
Project description (750 words maximum): What do you intend to do (scientific research
and journalistic coverage) and how? What are your goals for the project? How will you
assess accomplishments?
Titles and grade levels of participating classes:
- Journalism:
- Environmental science
Name, title, email and phone of administrator authorizing submission of the proposal:

Submit by December 1, 2017, to Barb Miller at mille384@msu.edu

If you have questions, email Eric Freedman at freedma5@msu.edu

EJ alum shoots high

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Madison Hall

Madison Hall, an alum of the Knight Center’s Environmental Journalism master’s program, is now ranked 11^th nationally by USA Shooting for Women’s Air Pistol..
Hall competed in the USA Shooting Winter Air Gun match at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Hall, now a doctoral candidate in Fisheries & Wildlife, belongs to the MSU Shooting Sports Club.
In an interview with Outsports.com, Hall said, “While my academic goal is to complete my Ph.D. in the coming year, my competitive shooting goals remain fixed on regional, national and international air pistol shooting events, and I hope to be a role model to younger students, scientists and athletes who are trying to find their way with intelligence, compassion, strength and dignity.”
Hall’s plans include combining graduate studies and a competitive career, including a desire to compete in the Olympics.