This month, University of Montana journalism student Henry Chisholm will accept the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation scholarship for excellence in college sports writing.
This national journalism award includes a $3,000 scholarship and a trip to Los Angeles, California on September 22 where Chisholm and the four other award recipients will be honored at Dodger Stadium.
“We get to watch a taping of SportsCenter, sit in a box for a preseason NHL game and a bunch of other cool stuff,” Chisholm said.
The scholarship is in memory of James Patrick Murray. Murray was a sportswriter at the Los Angeles Times from 1960 to 1998 and was inducted in the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Hall of Fame in 1978. Murray is also one of only four sportswriters to receive the Pulitzer Prize.
“Just being associated with Jim Murray’s name is huge,” Chisholm said.
Chisholm, now a senior at the J-School, spent last summer entrenched in sports journalism interning for BSN Denver in Colorado.
Chisholm mostly covered Broncos football but also wrote an article on the Rockies-Padres brawl at Coors Field. Chisholm’s BSN Denver internship officially ended this fall, but Chisholm still contributes several sports stories to the outlet each week.
For Chisholm, working as a sports writer for the University of Montana’s student newspaper, the Montana Kaimin, gives him direct inside access to all things Grizzly football and a wealth of hands-on experience actually doing sports journalism.
Research is key for Chisholm when it comes to sports reporting. He spends hours watching game tape and reading up on players to stay up on what’s happening on and off the field. Most of his reporting is asking coaches and players about game plans and strategies.
“It’s real football talk with people who know so much about football,” Chisholm said.
“Off-the-record reporting is fun too, even if I know I might never be able to share the information. I’ve learned a ton of secrets,” he said.
For Chisholm, the most important part of journalism is having contacts and building relationships with people behind the scenes with people who trust you and will tell you when something big is going down.
“Especially in sports, where everything you cover is almost comically secretive and leads are tough to dig up on your own,” Chisholm said.
After college, Chisholm hopes to break into magazine writing for a publication like Sports Illustrated or ESPN Magazine.
Henry joins six other UM Journalism students who have been named as Murray Scholars in years past:
- Peter Bulger 2005
- Bill Oram 2008
- Tyson Alger 2010
- Daniel Mediate 2011
- Dustin Askim 2013
- Jesse Flickinger 2014
