Sports Journalism Institute Selects Scripps Howard Junior in Class of 2010
Junior print journalism major Shemar Woods from Centreville, Va. has been accepted into the Sports Journalism Institute (SJI) Class of 2010. He will participate in weeklong training at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., before traveling to complete an eight-week internship in sports writing at The Denver Post, Colorado’s largest daily newspaper. Woods was selected on the basis of his academic achievement, interest in sports journalism as a career and his essay submission.
SJI is designed to attract talented college students to journalism careers through opportunities in sports reporting and editing. SJI targets minority students to enhance racial and gender diversity in sports departments of newspapers nationwide. The selection of Woods is an example of SJI’s commitment “to enhance racial and gender diversity in sports departments of newspapers nationwide.”
“It is certainly a tremendous honor to be part of a selected group that will learn from a few of the greats in the business,” Woods said. His trainers at Poynter will include Sandy Rosenbush, ESPN news editor; New York Daily News sports editor Leon Carter; and Gregory Lee, senior assistant sports editor of The Boston Globe.
“My initial goal is to use my skill sets acquired from Hampton University’s Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications,” Woods said, “in addition to previous internship experiences.”
Woods interned in summer 2009 at the Riverside, Calif. Press-Enterprise, where his assignments ranged from the Los Angeles Lakers to USC and UCLA football to the Little League baseball regional championships. He also interned in summer 2008 at WCHB 1200 AM, a Detroit radio station, where he followed Rob Parker. Parker was a former writer for The Detroit News and was a co-host of one of the radio shows. While at his internship, Woods got to experience both the field of radio and print journalism.
He has also been sports editor of the Hampton University newspaper, The Hampton Script, since fall 2008. Woods thanked “everyone who has offered a hand in assistance during my maturation toward becoming a professional journalist,” and added, “I will make the most of the future opportunity.”
The Sports Journalism Institute works in conjunction with the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ), and is funded by the Tribune Foundation, Hearst Newspapers/Houston Chronicle, Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) and the New York Daily News. The program, which began in 1993, has produced more than 135 graduates who have gone on to professional newspaper work.
-Written by Whitney Hubbard, Junior Public Relations Major
