The Media Center

UT Student Journalists win regional SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards

Student journalists at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, won several first-place and finalist awards at the annual Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Region 12 Conference last month. Award-winning work included stories covering Hurricane Helene and the 2024 presidential election campaign. Senior journalism and media major and The Daily Beacon Editor-in-Chief Shelby Wright said she is…
Graduating Senior Griffin Hadley Proud To ‘Carry The Torch’

Griffin Hadley and Kate McCarville the Tennessee men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams receiving the Torchbearer award at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center in Knoxville, TN. (Photo By Kyndall Williams/Tennessee Athletics) School of Journalism and Media Professor Erin Whiteside met graduating senior Griffin Hadley for the first time during an informational session for students…
Land Grant Films Team Produces Award-Winning Short Documentary on Blind Woodworker

Senior Carter Moore interviewing Greenville, Tennessee native and woodworker George Wurtzel for the Land Grant Films short documentary “Carving The Creative Vision”. In small-town America, there always seems to be that person everyone knows who perfectly reflects what that community is all about. This phenomenon is what prompted Nick Geidner, School of Journalism and Media…
Thatcher, Durben Selected for 2025 Carnegie-Knight News21 Project

Juniors Gracyn Thatcher and Alexa Durben, both journalism and media majors, will represent the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, this summer at the 2025 Carnegie-Knight News21 Fellowship at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. Two School of Journalism and Media students have been selected to participate in a prestigious…
The Election Project, Student Journalists Win Big at 2025 Southeast Journalism Conference

Students in the School of Journalism and Media earned several awards for their reporting coverage including Best Public Service Journalism for The Election Project and Best TV Station at the 2025 Southeast Journalism Conference The Election Project won “Best in the South” in public service journalism at the 2025 Southeast Journalism Conference (SEJC). A collaborative…
School of Journalism and Media Students Produce Documentary on Vol Baseball Star Hunter Ensley

A new student-produced documentary titled Hunter premiered February 13 on the Tennessee Athletics YouTube page. The 45-minute documentary, produced as part of a School of Journalism and Media Video Sports Production and Performance class last fall, tells the inspiring story of Tennessee baseball outfielder Hunter Ensley and his journey from humble beginnings in Alaska and…
2025 Volunteer 40 Under 40 Recipient Taylor Hathorn discovered passion on Rocky Top

Alumna Taylor Hathorn’s (’14, ’19) post-graduation path received a jump-start when she signed up to be a part of Land Grant Films’ Medal of Honor Project. “I cannot begin to explain how formative that project was in my career,” the 2025 Volunteer 40 Under 40 recipient from the School of Journalism and Media said. The…
CCI Faculty Brittany Tarwater 2025 Volunteer 40 Under 40

From the moment Brittany Tarwater (‘09, ‘13) stepped into the College of Communication and Information to where she is today in her career, there’s been a network of supportive faculty pushing her to succeed. She didn’t realize when she arrived at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, campus on her 18th birthday that CCI and UT would…
Graduating Senior Allison Seaton Found Her Passion After Transferring to Rocky Top

Graduating senior Allison Seaton showing off her media credentials. Transferring to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, turned out to be the right move for graduating senior Allison Seaton. The East Tennessee native and School of Journalism and Media major may have started her collegiate career elsewhere, but Rocky Top is where she found her passion…
Live Election Day Special Helped Students Hone Skills, Milestone for TVC

TVC students celebrate after successfully producing “Voting Matters,” a live Election Day special, on Nov. 5, 2024. Three weeks before Election Day, School of Journalism and Media Assistant Professor of Practice Brittany Tarwater reached out to the student leadership at The Volunteer Channel (TVC) with an idea to produce an Election Day live special. Inspired…