Whitireia Student Wins Top Journalism Award

Whitireia Student Wins Top Journalism Award

WHITIREIA’s Jenny Meyer has won the Statistics NZ best journalism student award for 2008.

Her stories took top prize of $800 from a field of 13 entries from Massey, AUT, NZ Broadcasting School and Aoraki Polytechnic - even though when she entered she was less than halfway through the national journalism qualification taught at Whitireia, the National Diploma in Journalism (Multimedia).

Her two winning stories - judged best by leading journalists Brent Edwards (Radio NZ Political Editor) and Brian Fallow (NZ Herald Economics Editor) - were about rest home workers’ claims for better pay and conditions, and a story about new research to treat heart disease.

Both stories were first published on NewsWire, with the heart one also appearing on the Scoop website.

A qualified nurse, married with a youngish family, Jenny is one of 27 students who started the new diploma at Whitireia Journalism School at its new premises in Cuba St in June. She graduates at the end of March and is lined up to do her work internship at RadioNZ.

Journalism programme leader Jim Tucker says he is thrilled with Jenny’s win.
“I do feel slightly foolish about it, though,” he says. “When she came to me in August and said she wanted to enter the Stats award I tried to dissuade her. I thought it was way too early in the course. Just goes to show - what would I know.”

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