About Me Professional highlights• Since joining the sports staff at The Island Packet newspaper in July 2005, I have helped build our sports section into one of the best in the nation for our size, as evidenced by top-10 showings in the under-40,000 circulation category of the Associated Press Sports Editors contest for daily section (2006), Sunday section (2008) and special section (2007, 2008).• I have earned individual awards for project reporting, feature writing, explanatory writing, breaking news coverage, column writing, enterprise reporting and game stories. Most notably, I earned three writing awards in the under-40,000 circulation category in the 2008 APSE contest, taking first place for project reporting, third place for feature writing and honorable mention for explanatory writing. • My eagerness to embrace the changing media landscape led to my promotion in September 2008 to assistant sports editor/online. In this newly created position, I have helped to improve the appearance of our Web site and increased the sports department's social media presence through facebook and Twitter. • My previous experience as a do-it-all sports editor at the Parsons (Kan.) Sun and a jack-of-all-trades at the Columbia Missourian makes me a well-rounded journalist who works well in team and individual settings and excels on tight deadlines. Education• I earned a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism in May 2004, graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors after compiling a 3.8 grade-point average on a 4.0 scale. |