A film produced in a collaborative course with Journalism and Media Arts students at the University of Montana is an official selection of the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival and four other festivals. “Tomorrow’s Town Today” tells the story of high school seniors in Colstrip, Montana as they, and their town, try to discover their futures.
Directed by senior Halley Linscheid and produced by alumna Matti Olson, the film reveals the promise and the peril of a town built around the coal industry. Students traveled to Colstrip several times in the Spring 2023 semester to document the major events and day-to-day life of the eastern Montana town. The film closely follows high schoolers through sports, home life and the prom as they decide what comes after graduation.
Journalism Professor Denise Dowling and Media Arts Professor Ryan Weibush taught the documentary film production course in the collaboration between the schools. Dowling said it was fascinating to watch the students work together, each bringing their backgrounds and sensibilities.
“Journalism students focused on truth-telling and news value while Media Arts students brought their creativity and visual design to the course,” Dowling said. “The students very much learned from each other and the resulting film is a fabulous blend.”
The film was selected as part of the Made In Montana film strand at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival scheduled for February 16-25, 2024. It has also been accepted to the Berlin Indie Film Festival, the Bozeman International Film Festival, the Flathead Lake International Cinemafest and the Winterland Film Festival in Whitefish.
Twelve winners and 17 finalists. We’d say that’s a sweep of the regional Society of Professional Journalists’ Awards for students of the University of Montana School of Journalism.
And, they didn’t just sweep one or two categories. They were tops in everything from general news reporting, to sports photography, to feature videography to podcasts to in-depth radio reporting.
Below, see a list of all our winners and finalists and click in to see the outstanding work that won these accolades.
Henry Pree’s segment of Indigenous Business on Montana PBS about Native Fish Keepers won a regional SPJ award for Television Feature Reporting
Winner: The Ford factor — by Jack Marshall, Montana Kaimin, University of Montana
Finalist: Voices of 37 — by Tye Brown, Montana Kaimin, University of Montana
Corbin Gwaltney Award for Best All-Around Student Newspaper (Large)
Winner: Montana Kaimin — by Staff, Montana Kaimin, University of Montana
Best Independent Online Student Publication
Winner: Native News — by Montana Native News Team, Native News, University of Montana
Art/Graphics/Multimedia
General News Photography
Winner: Galbreath protest — by Antonio Ibarra, Montana Kaimin, University of Montana
Cole Wells, a member of the Galbreath family, reacts as he and other family members watch dash and body-cam footage of the night Galbreath died presented by county officials during a coroner’s inquest on April 29 from the altercation Aug. 12, 2021, between Brendon Galbreath, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, and Missoula Police Officer Garrett Brown. It took the Galbreath family almost a year to see footage from last summer’s incident which ended in an officer-involved shooting. Photo by Antonio Ibarra/Montana Kaimin.
Finalist: 9/11 Memorial — by Lukas Prinos, Montana Kaimin, University of Montana
Feature Photography
Finalist: Hazel’s honey — by Ridley Hudson, Bozeman Daily Chronicle, University of Montana
Andrew Bauer, owner of Hazel’s Honey, prepares the smoker to collect queen bees on July 25, 2022 in Livingston. Ridley Hudson/Chronicle
Winner: Rebound possession — by Antonio Ibarra, Montana Kaimin, University of Montana Finalist: Soccer collision — by Chris Lodman, Montana Kaimin, University of Montana
Feature Videography
Winner: Interwoven — by Austin Amestoy, Montana Kaimin, University of Montana
Finalist: Oxigenio — by Griffin Ziegert, Montana Kaimin, University of Montana
Audio
Radio News Reporting
Winner: Food Rx — by Izaak Opatz, KBGA, University of Montana
Finalist: Fentanyl testing strip controversy — by Griffen Smith, KBGA, University of Montana
Finalist: Adderall shortage — by Max W. Bartley, KBGA, University of Montana
Jiakai (JK) Lou, right, in Helmville, Montana, last winter with Tyrel James Bignell. Courtesy photo.
Once again, University of Montana School of Journalism students showed the country what they can do, winning top prizes in regional and national competitions, including in the national Hearst Journalism Awards Program.
The Hearst Awards, sometimes called the college Pulitzer Prizes, include five writing, one radio, two TV and four multimedia competitions. Students at 104 accredited universities are eligible to compete.
This year, in the 60th annual awards, UM J-School students placed in the top 10 in four categories and in the top 20 in four more competitions.
Overall, the University of Montana is in 4th place for the Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition, which accumulates points from student placements.
Mollie Lemm. Courtesy photo.
Recent graduate JiaKai Lou placed first in multimedia narrative competition for his documentary, “32 Below,” which looks at the hard work and passion of one ranching family as they tend their cows and calves during last year’s frigid winter in Helmville, Montana. The film was also chosen to show at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.
Another new graduate, Mollie Lemm, placed in 8th place in Multimedia II, Innovative Storytelling and Audience Engagement Competition and Quinn Corcoran placed 16th in Multimedia III – Enterprise Reporting.
In photojournalism, UM junior Sara Diggins won 2nd Place in Photojournalism I – News and Features for her portfolio, which documented a wide range of emotions, from grief to suspense to surprise to humor. And, Trevor Reid placed 20th in the highly competitive Photo Picture Story Competition, for his series of photos about a young high school cycling phenomenon from Missoula who competed and excelled at the National Cyclocross Championships this year. Diggins also had earlier won the Bronze Medal in the College Photographer of the Year contest in the Sports Feature Photography category.
Sara Diggins. Photo by Mollie Lemm.
UM also grabbed a top-10 Hearst win in Radio News and Features with Aidan Morton in 10th place. Becca Olson also placed in the top 20 of that competition.
In the writing category, recent grad Paul Hamby, now at the Missoulian, placed in the top 20 twice, in enterprise reporting and in personality profile writing.
J-Schoolers also cleaned up in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Mark of Excellence Awards, with 26 regional winners and 11 regional champions, which advanced to the national competition.
The 2019 student documentary unit also was named a national winner for their documentary “Trash talk: Montana’s recycling challenge” in the Television In-Depth Reporting category. You can watch it here on Montana PBS.
Tessa Nadeau. Courtesy photo.
Recent graduate Tessa Nadeau, now working at ABC-Fox Montana, was a national finalist for her piece “Transgender runner, June Eastwood,” which first appeared on the student-produced UM News program.
The 2019 student documentary unit also was named a national winner for their documentary “Trash talk: Montana’s recycling challenge” in the Television In-Depth Reporting category. You can watch it here on Montana PBS.
In the radio competition, UM student Regina Fitzsimmons, won in radio features for her piece, “Falling in love for three minutes: A woman in transition finds her place on the dance floor.” And, Maxine Speier, won in in-depth radio for “To catch a predator fish.”
UM J-School students also earned top honors in the NATAS Student Production Awards at the 57th Annual Northwest Regional Emmy Awards ceremony in June. The awards recognize outstanding achievement in video production. The UM News team won for Best Newscast, Tessa Nadeau won for Best General TV Reporting, and the producers of the “Trash Talk” student documentary won for Best Long-Form Non-Fiction.
Overall, University of Montana students were nominated in four categories:
Newscast
UM News 2019 • University of Montana • David Atkinson, Reporter/Photographer/Studio Crew • Griffin Rerucha, Producer/Reporter/Anchor • Graham Gardner, Director • Tessa Nadeau, Producer/Reporter/Anchor • Tina Brennan, Reporter/Photographer/Studio Crew • Sydney Hanson, Director • Briane White, Reporter/Photographer/Studio Crew
Montana Journalism 