SJMC Senior Jerome Barnett Takes Home MBJA Eric Sevareid Award

By Emily Knepple

School of Journalism and Mass Communication senior Jerome Barnett took home first place in the Soft Feature: Student Market Television category at the 2022 Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association Eric Sevareid Awards. The awards honor the best in journalism and are given to students and journalists in the MBJA’s six-state region: Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Barnett won for “Hitchcock: A Radio Play,” a piece he created for The Badger Report in J425: Video Journalism, taught by Distinguished Teaching Faculty Pat Hastings. The video focuses on the Edgewood College theater department as they attempt to recreate notable works of Alfred Hitchcock using different elements of radio, film and theater.

“The piece was a lot of fun to make. None of it would have happened, though, if Pat Hastings hadn’t given me her full trust,” said Barnett. “She supported the eclectic subject matter, the black-and-white aesthetic, and the soundbite-driven storytelling. I don’t think this piece would’ve been as nearly as good if I didn’t have that creative assurance.”