By Emily Early

COLUMBIA, Mo. (April 4, 2025) — Three Missouri School of Journalism students — all seniors — have been honored by the 2024-2025 Hearst Journalism Awards Program for their community reporting, joining a select group of journalism students honored by the program this year.

The national competition honors undergraduate students who practice and publish visual, written and audio work. Abigail Landwehr placed eighth in the Multimedia Innovative Journalism Competition for an interactive news project published by the Reynolds Journalism Institute. For his work at KBIA-FM — the School of Journalism’s NPR-member station — Benjamin Miller placed ninth in the Audio News/Features Competition. In the same category, Anna Colletto earned 11th place for her work, also at KBIA.

“These students covered a wide variety of news in different ways, but at the heart of their work is community reporting that engages and represents the people of mid-Missouri,” said David Kurpius, dean of the School of Journalism. “It’s great to see that kind of work continue to be recognized at the national level.”

Landwehr’s award recognized her innovative coverage of Jacob’s Cave Swapping Days, a triannual swap meet in Versailles, Missouri, through an interactive news game. Audiences are immersed into the swap meet and experience trading goods, all while learning about the vendors and their lives.

“Growing up in Wyoming, I learned the importance of giving fair coverage to the people in rural communities,” Landwehr said. “I’ve seen and experienced being dismissed or changed to fit a narrative through media because of where I grew up. I hated feeling looked down on in coverage I saw of my community, so my goal was to show the vendors as who they are, while being clear about how big of a role events like these can play in a rural spot.”

Landwehr was inspired by her Emerging Technologies in Journalism course and credits Assistant Professor Kat Duncan, who introduced her to the idea of covering events through a video game. After sketching out ideas, she attended the swap meet for a few hours, chatting with the vendors and creating the storyline for her piece.

“It feels really exciting [to win] but also completely out of left field,” Landwehr said. “A lot of my classmates had put together projects that felt like more serious topics, so I didn’t expect to see much of a reaction to mine. The people and the connections are genuinely my favorite part of journalism, so to see recognition for a light-hearted rural collection of their stories feels fantastic.”

Miller also found himself making connections across Missouri. After being tasked with writing a Veterans Day piece, research led to him encountering the Hasenbeck family, whose brother went missing in Vietnam in 1967. His Hearst submission, a piece for KBIA, tells their story.

“Meeting people like [the Hasenbecks] and having the privilege to hear something so personal about their lives left me without words most of the time,” Miller said. “But I was honored that they agreed to let me peek into their history and craft an article on their brother Paul.”

In addition to interviewing the family, Miller also spent time in their hometown, visiting the house they grew up in and getting a glimpse of their lives. His in-depth reporting allowed him to sympathize with the Hasenbecks, and he emphasized that his goal with the story was to generate empathy for veterans and people who have gone missing.

“Winning ninth place in the Hearst Audio competition is a nice feeling of recognition,” Miller said. “I also think it’s great because it will put more attention on the Hasenbecks’ story. I’m proud to have represented the J-School in a competition because of how much I’ve learned in the newsrooms and classrooms. I like to think that in some way I’m giving back to the J-School with this award. It’s a testament to the strong work Mizzou puts out, and I’m glad to be a part of that.”

Colletto worked alongside Miller on the health and higher education team at KBIA. After placing in the same category as him, Colletto reflected on their time working together.

“It feels really special also to be recognized alongside Ben, who is phenomenal,” she said. “He’s just such a great reporter, and I was very lucky that when he was working on his two pieces, I got to be his assistant city editor, so it feels extra special.”

Colletto placed 11th for her KBIA story on how mid-Missourians reacted to the Israel-Hamas conflict. The piece also received the Mark of Excellence Award in Radio News Reporting at the Society of Professional Journalists earlier this year.

Colletto dedicated her time to attending student events and speaking with editors, writers, other students and professors – including KBIA’s Anna Spidel and Janet Saidi – about what kind of language to use in order to accurately represent everyone involved in the piece.

“I think the piece is getting so much recognition because it’s very thorough and is tackling a big international issue but in a very specific local context,” Colletto said. “I trusted the kind of language I was using, and how I was using it really paid off, and I feel very proud of myself for how the piece came out. There’s a lot of intentionality behind it, and that kind of intentionality with language — especially in how we talk about big, complicated, international issues that are relevant at home — is really important.”

These honors came from just two of the 14 competitions in the 65th annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program, which is offering up to $700,000 in awards and will continue until the championship finals in all divisions this June. Read more about the other honorees recognized so far this year and follow journalism.missouri.edu for more updates.

Updated: April 4, 2025