When Blair Dedrick, a senior journalism major, opened up one of her e-mail messages in June she was left speechless.
Dedrick said she only read “congratulations...” before she jumped up in excitement. “I could only say ‘oh my God!’” she said.
That day Dedrick, who has been a reporter since she was 16, was awarded $10,000 through the annual Scripps Howard Foundation Top Ten Scholarship Program.
“I was very honored to simply be nominated,” Dedrick said. “I would still be happy even if I had not won it.”
The award is only available to journalism students with a newspaper/magazine concentration and is given to 10 students across the nation. Other criteria include academic achievement, work experience in journalism, a portfolio and a submitted essay.
Dedrick said she was skeptical when she first applied. When she looked at the other nominees’ resumes, she said she was not sure if they had picked the right person. However, Elinor Grusin, a professor in the journalism department, had told her otherwise.
“When she and her mother referred to her chances as ‘if she wins,’ I corrected them and said ‘when she wins,’” Grusin said. “That’s how sure I was.”
Grusin, who nominated Dedrick last spring, said Dedrick was the first person to ever be nominated for the Top Ten Scholars Award. She said the journalism department is always on the lookout for talent willing to seek success both inside and outside the classroom.
“I nominated Blair because she has remained a top academic scholar while completing two highly successful internships, one with The University of Memphis magazine and the second, and perhaps more challenging, one as both a daily metro and features reporter at The Commercial Appeal,” Grusin said.
Prior to winning the award, Dedrick covered high school sports beginning in April 2000 for The Bartlett Express and Cordova Beacon while she was in high school. She also did layout and sports commentary for both papers.
During Dedrick’s second year with The Bartlett Express one of her sports sections was named one of the top five in its division by the Tennessee Press Association.
After arriving at The University, Dedrick continued her journalistic path by writing for various publications, including serving on the staff of The Daily Helmsman.
In the spring of 2004, The University’s magazine also won the Tennessee College Public Relation Association’s Gold Award and Judges’ Award for Overall Excellence. Dedrick wrote two articles in the issue and played a major role in the win, said Greg Russell, the magazine’s editor.
When Dedrick won the Top Ten Scholars Award, Russell said it was not really much of a surprise.
“She’s a young journalist, but her work comes across as a well-seasoned journalist’s,” he said. “Blair is probably the best student writer we have had up here.”
In the fall of 2004, Dedrick, who took German at The University, began a year at The University of Mainz in Mainz, Germany, studying journalism. She also spent the 2005 spring semester interning at a German television station.
Dedrick returned to Memphis on Aug. 17, but left this week for a Scripps Howard “Semester in Washington” internship in Washington D.C. “I’ll be covering political stories,” she said.
Dedrick said she plans to graduate in May 2006 and hopes to get into the international reporting scene.
“I was lucky,” Dedrick said.
James Redmond, the chairman of the Department of Journalism, said Dedrick’s experience overseas and being a highly involved and productive student journalist has made her outstanding in every way.
“She has a great future in the journalism profession,” Redmond said.
Dedrick, who came to The University under the Cecil C. Humphreys presidential scholarship, said she plans to use her most recent award for graduate school.
