Leah Petrovich, a senior studying broadcast news, did not know that her group project for her broadcast reporting class would win her and her five teammates $10,000.
Petrovich and teammates Devin Bartolotta, Matt Digby, Glenn Janos, Sara Tranelli and Ryan Vibbert won the first Scripps Innovation Challenge, a competition that invited students of any major to research and propose an innovative solution to current media problems.
Ten finalists pitched their ideas in front of a panel of judges who specialized in media, and seven walked away with cash prizes.
“To present in front of all of these accredited journalism and media people was just flattering,” Petrovich said.
The team proposed a smartphone app that acts as an alarm programmed with news stories tailored to the user as a way to get the younger generations to consume more news, Petrovich said.
The idea for this app originated in Mary Rogus’ broadcast reporting class, where the team had to write papers and present about their idea in preparation for the challenge. Rogus was very supportive of their idea throughout the entire project, Petrovich said.
After they were announced as winners, Petrovich said the team spoke with Art Smith of Ogden Newspapers, who originally posed this media problem, and they exchanged information and ideas.
“I guess we’ll just keep up communication with him to see what ideas he wants to take from us,” Petrovich said.
Dennis Hetzel, executive director of the Ohio Newspaper Association and one of the guest judges, said he was impressed with all of the ideas, but the first and second place winners stood out with their ideas and presentations.
“We definitely thought they had innovative ideas which were very well presented, were pushing the envelope a little bit and were achievable with the right continued effort,” Hetzel said.
Andy Alexander, a visiting professional for the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, said the Scripps Innovation Challenge worked exactly as he wanted it to when he proposed the idea more than a year ago.
“What you saw was a lot of student engagement around the whole concept of media innovation and media entrepreneurship, and that’s exactly what we wanted to have happen,” Alexander said.
After proposing the challenge, Alexander received a $3 million endowment to organize the competition.
In about two weeks, Alexander will convene with a group of faculty and students involved to prepare for next year’s challenge. He said there should be more participation next year, and he hopes the challenge will expand beyond Ohio University.
“This maiden voyage was important to make sure that we have the concept right, and we think it was a terrific success,” Alexander said.
dk123111@ohiou.edu
First Place, $10,000
Entry 4: Devin Bartolotta, Matt Digby, Glenn Janos, Leah Petrovich, Sara Tranelli, Ryan Vibbert
Second Place, $5,000
Entry 16: Sicong Li, Andrew Winter, Ben Weibel, Justin Howell, Rose Troyer, Erica Staeuble
Honorable Mention, $1,000 per team
Entry 3: Brianna DiPilato, Amy Gregory, Chu Wu, Kaylyn Hlavaty
Entry 5: Chris Pinchot, Gina Ranalli, Alex Martinez
Entry 12: Matthew Forsythe, Emily Kimble
Entry 9: Kaity Conner, Jacob Corrigan, Isaiah Griffin, Kaitor Kposowa, Bradley Parks
Entry 14: Nii Kotei Nikoi, Tracy Tinga, Reda Hassan, Alicia Aikens
