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| Jane Briggs-Bunting (second from left) is surrounded by OU alumni – all former Oakland Post editors: Sally Tato Snell, Rob Snell and Ann Zaniewski. |
Six alumni were honored for Excellence in Journalism last week by the Detroit Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, including two of the top honors.
Former director of OU’s Journalism Department Jane Briggs-Bunting received a Lifetime Achievement Award. She also presented the Journalist of the Year award to one of her former students, Rob Snell (CAS ’96), who is a reporter for The Detroit News.
“It was a goose bump moment when Jane opened the envelope and discovered her former student had been chosen as journalist of the year,” said Garry Gilbert, the current director of OU’s Journalism Department. “Jane was the original winner (of the award) in 1991. Rob was emotional in his acceptance, noting the serendipity of the moment.”
“It never felt like something less than a professional news operation, even in college,” Snell said about working at The Oakland Post, where he was editor-in-chief for two years. “Just the work ethic you get out of the paper there, it has really carried over into my career."
He recalls learning that work ethic from the journalism faculty who were also practicing journalists.
"You learn it’s all about the work, about how hard you work," he said.
Other awards were given to print, broadcast and online journalists from the Detroit area, many of them with ties to OU’s journalism program The Oakland Post.