Josh Barone, BJ ’12, Places in Top 10 of Hearst Journalism Program’s Enterprise Reporting Competition

William Randolph Hearst Foundation Journalism Awards Program

By Celia Darrough

Columbia, Mo. (Feb. 4, 2013) — Missouri School of Journalism alumnus Josh Barone placed in the top 10 of the enterprise reporting category of the 53rd annual William Randolph Hearst Foundation‘s Journalism Awards Program.

Barone, BJ ’12, who received ninth place, competed with more than 90 other students from 52 universities.

His story, “A Murder Unanswered: The Aftermath of Tevin Nelson’s Death,” resulted from extensive reporting of a shooting that occurred at a nightclub.

Josh Barone
Josh Barone

Barone first wrote the story as a breaking news piece, but when the nightclub closed, he focused on who the victim was. The story, he said, describes the family’s grieving process and the frustrating murder investigation.

“The more time I spent with Tevin Nelson’s family and friends, the more complicated the story became,” he said. “Tevin’s death was another chapter in Columbia’s repetitive history of law enforcement’s toxic relationship with blacks. So, I tried to find something to take away from his family’s grief and the unsolved murder investigation.”

Barone spent two months working on the story, which was published in the Columbia Missourian in January 2012. He credits his editor, Associate Professor Katherine Reed, for developing his writing skills.

“She somehow trusted that if I disappeared for a couple of months I’d come back with something publishable,” he said. “In general, though, I wrote my best stories when she was my editor, and I’m lucky to have worked with her.”

Barone, who grew up in Orange County, Calif., and Great Falls, Mont., graduated in the print and digital news area with emphases in reporting and editing. He also studied French and creative writing.

He is now a reporter and editorial researcher at The Financial Times Ltd., in New York. He has interned at The Wall Street Journal, Standard & Poor’s and Esquire magazine. While in school, Barone earned numerous awards and recognitions, including being named the 2012 Aubespin scholar by the American Copy Editors Society. The award is given to the top candidate during the group’s annual student editing contest. He received the School’s 2012 Atwater Prize for Writing. Barone also was selected as the 2010 Edward Trayes Scholar, given to the top intern in the Dow Jones News Fund‘s rigorous copy editing summer program.

Judging the writing competition this year were Ward Bushee, editor and executive vice president, The San Francisco Chronicle; Marty Kaiser, editor and senior vice president, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and John Temple, managing editor, The Washington Post.

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program consists of five monthly writing competitions, two photojournalism competitions, three broadcast news competitions and four multimedia competitions, with championship finals in all divisions. The program awards up to $500,000 in scholarships and grants annually.

Updated: July 13, 2020

Related Stories

Expand All Collapse All