Two students affiliated with the OU Daily are among a trio from OU's Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication to be selected as fellows in a nationally acclaimed investigative reporting program.
Maddy Keyes, who worked through the past year at OU Daily, and Marien López Medina, who previously did so, along with Gaylord's Kevin Palomino, were chosen for the distinguished Carnegie-Knight News21 fellowship.
This year, the News21 fellows will work on a project titled America After Roe, exploring how the Supreme Court decision impacts healthcare, culture, policy and people beyond the issue of abortion.
The program, created by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, starts in the spring semester with a seminar that immerses students in a topic they will investigate in the summer during 10 weeks of reporting based at Arizona State's Cronkite School. Fellows receive a stipend of $8,000 and up to $3,000 for travel expenses.
“Being an investigative reporter, being Nicaraguan and an international student in the U.S. helped me adapt to any unforeseen circumstances and be resilient, which are very important aspects when pursuing a journalism career,” said López Medina, who interned last summer at The Frontier after working at the Daily as a reporter and editor.
“My time working at the OU Daily has helped me tremendously in preparing for this program," said Keyes, who worked as a senior reporter at the Daily last year. She also commended professor John Schmeltzer, noting he "has gone above and beyond to support me in my career and has pushed me to take advantage of every opportunity that comes my way, including News21.”
"I hope to understand the challenges that come with reporting on national topics that capture audience attention from different backgrounds," said Palamino, who previously was named to Pro Publica's 2022 class of emerging reporters. "I want a challenging journalistic experience filled with lessons that improve my storytelling while also creating impactful work.”
A version of this article was originally published by Gaylord College.
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