CINCINNATI, Ohio – The Scripps Howard Foundation has awarded scholarships totaling $20,000 to 10 undergraduate college journalism students who were finalists in the 1998 Roy W. Howard National Reporting Competition.The students were recognized during an awards banquet Monday, Oct. 5, at Indiana University in Bloomington. Indiana University School of Journalism coordinates the competition and awards ceremony, which each year includes the Howard Lecture. Brian Lamb, chairman and CEO of C-SPAN, was this year’s guest lecturer.“The Scripps Howard Foundation is proud to celebrate one of America’s journalism pioneers with this program that bears his name,” said Judith G. Clabes, president and CEO of the Foundation. “This competition encourages the brightest and the best of those who aspire to the profession to which Roy Howard dedicated his life.”Roy W. Howard was one of the newspaper world’s most dynamic personalities. He became president of the United Press when he was 29 and 10 years later was named chairman of the board of Scripps Howard. He retired in 1953 but remained active in the company until his death at age 81 in 1964.The Roy W. Howard National Reporting Competition is open to undergraduate journalism students – freshmen, sophomores and juniors – for coverage of campus or community events, issues, trends or personalities, published in a campus or professional newspaper. Receiving first place awards were:–Ryan Cormier, a political science and journalism major at the University of Delaware. Cormier was recognized for a work headlined “Morals and Ethics in Local TV News.” The piece concluded that the competitive nature of journalism in a time of peace and prosperity has provoked sensationalist reporting on money, murder and sex.–Cara LaBrie, a communications and history major at Santa Clara University. LaBrie received the award for a story headlined “The Price of Admission: Hazing at SCU – Rites of Passage.” LaBrie examined hazing and underage drinking among student athletes and showed that non-athletes were more likely to be disciplined than athletes for violations of the university’s standard conduct code.–Aline Mendelsohn, a journalism major (French minor) at Indiana University. Mendelsohn won for a story headlined “Embracing Life’s Uncertainties: Living with Cancer.” The human interest story chronicled an IU student’s battle with colon cancer.–Harley Ratliff, a journalism major at the University of Kansas. Ratliff won for a story headlined “Trapped” that studied the plight of a Kansas soccer player’s legal battle challenging the NCAA’s academic qualifications.The runners up are:–Chris Hutchins, a journalism major (folk studies minor) at Western Kentucky University. Hutchins piece, “Comic Books Come of Age” revealed that about 80 percent of comic book readers are adults and dispelled the notion that comic books are something people outgrow.–Phillip Reese, an English and philosophy major at North Carolina State University, for his piece headlined “In Search of Ethnicity: Diversity among NCSU Colleges.” The story examined the disparity, in terms of diversity of student population, between colleges within the university.Receiving honorable mentions were:–Brad Jenkins, a media arts design major at James Madison University, for his piece headlined “University Grade Inflation Noticeable.”–Tom Lasseter, a journalism major at the University of Georgia, for a story headlined “Should Players go for the Green.” –Mikki Lynn Olmsted, a journalism and Spanish major at Western Kentucky University, for her piece headlined, “Losing our Religion.”–Eric Weslander, a journalism major at the University of Kansas, for his story “Conflict of Interests.”Judges for the 1998 competition were Maggie Balough, editor of Quill; Hunt Helm, formerly with The Courier-Journal in Louisville, who is now associate commissioner in the Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of Communications; and Vince Vawter, president and publisher of The Evansville (Ind.) Courier. Dedicated to excellence in journalism, the Scripps Howard Foundation is a leader in industry efforts in journalism education, scholarship, internships, literacy, minority recruitment/development and First Amendment causes.