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Ka Leo staffers win FOX Challenge

Published: Monday, April 27, 2009

Updated: Monday, August 3, 2009 17:08

Two Ka Leo staff members have won $10,000 in the sixth annual Fox News Channel College Challenge for their news video on Native Hawaiian independence and the Akaka Bill.

The journalism students, Casey Chin and Meghan Lopez, accompanied by publications adviser Jay Hartwell, received their award on Friday, April 24, during a live taping of the "Fox and Friends" morning show in New York. During their appearance on the show, they spoke about their experiences filming the three-minute winning entry.

Lopez's and Chin's award included $10,000 scholarship awarded to the winning team and an additional $10,000 to support student journalism programs at UH Mānoa.

The Fox News Channel College Challenge requires teams of two to four students to report, write and produce an objective broadcast news story. A panel from Fox News Channel judged the dozens of entries submitted from universities and colleges across the country.

"The hardest part was summarizing the entire history of the Hawaiian sovereignty movement and presenting it to a national audience that knows nothing about the United States' illegal overthrow of the native monarchy," Lopez said.

Working with resources provided by the UH Mānoa School of Communications' Media Lab and Ka Leo O Hawai'i, the two, with assistance from Ka Leo Video Editor Steven Tonthat, used Sony PD-170 cameras to shoot more than 13 hours of tape. They logged and edited what they had down to a three-minute story to meet the requirements of the Fox competition.

"It was fun and the worst part of my life," Chin said. "There were times that we were in there editing for 12 hours."

Lopez, who was an intern at 9News (KUSA) in Denver last summer, also is one of three college journalists selected to join 12 professionals to travel as fellows through Germany this summer in a program sponsored by Radio and Television News Directors Foundation and RIAS Berlin Kommission. Chin, who interned with Hawai'i Business Magazine last summer, said he also plans to travel as a reporter.

"I really hope that our recognition will stir a more serious conversation about our journalism program," Lopez said. "It's absolutely important to have a journalism program at UH."

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