OU Student Media alumni and donor newsletter

Winter 2024-25

FROM THE DIRECTOR

Welcome to the winter edition of OU Student Media's alumni and donor newsletter. This edition has updates on the following:

• National, state awards
• 1916 edition donated
• Daily billboards
• Internship interview day 
• Alumni news

First, we want to share various opportunities to support our students. As always, donations made through the OU Foundation are tax deductible and help enrich the public service Daily students provide as the largest reporting staff in the state’s third-largest city while building their careers.

Here are four ways to support our team:

Support a scholarship awarded to OU Daily's news managing editor in honor of the late spouse of former Daily adviser Jack Willis.

Support needs of our organization such as travel, equipment and training that enrich the public service our team provides to the OU and Norman communities. 

Support a scholarship awarded to a student who demonstrates success amid adversity, honoring a late longtime Student Media employee.

Also, through Dec. 7, you may purchase OU Daily merchandise, profits from which will also support Student Media.

Now, on to the news...

OU Daily was named one of the nation’s top three college media organizations in Pinnacle Awards results announced in November by the College Media Association.

The Daily finished third behind the UCLA Daily Bruin, which won first place, and the Indiana Daily Student, which finished second. The Kentucky Kernel and Michigan Daily earned honorable mentions. 

The Daily has been named a media outlet of the year finalist seven times in the past eight years. In that span, the next most recognized organization is the Indiana Daily Student, with five honors. No other outlet has been recognized more than twice.

Read more about other recent Daily honors, including being a Pacemaker finalist, nine accolades from the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists and two honors from the College Media Business and Advertising Managers' national advertising competition.

OU Student Media recently received a donation that included an original copy of the third edition of the Oklahoma Daily, which was published on Sept. 20, 1916. 

Additionally, the department received a bound volume of the University Oklahoman from the 1913-14 academic year. That publication, which existed from 1913-16, was the immediate predecessor to the Daily.

The items were donated by Ryta Klugh Kirby, whose uncle, Earl Christmas, was the 1913-14 editor-in-chief of the University Oklahoman. 

We intend to frame the third edition for display in our Copeland Hall offices.

OU Daily ran billboards on Interstate 35 on four days this fall as we continue to extend our reach and build brand awareness in the broader Norman community.

The messages ran on the days of OU football’s season opener against Temple, SEC opener against Tennessee, homecoming game against South Carolina and home finale against Alabama.  

Across those four days, more than 60,000 people visited the OU Daily’s website. 

The Daily hosted its fourth-annual internship interview day on Nov. 1, facilitating 76 student interviews with eight news organizations. 

Participating this year were The Oklahoman, Tulsa World, Oklahoma Voice, The Frontier, KOSU, Oklahoma Watch, NonDoc and the Denton Record-Chronicle. 

“By far, OU has the most organized event and the best candidates consistently,” Tulsa World editor Jason Collington said of his visits to OU relative to other campuses where he recruits. “They know their numbers. They experience the true pace of daily journalism. They understand what a metro daily news organization needs to do for its community because they do it all the time for Norman.”

If your employer offers internships and would like to participate in the future to meet our top talent, please email studentmedia@ou.edu.

Hannah Allam (’99), a national security reporter who has been part of Pulitzer Prize-winning teams at The Washington Post the past two years, is joining ProPublica’s Washington bureau.  

Nathan Aker (’24) is now a communications and public relations coordinator for the University of Central Oklahoma’s College of Business in Edmond. 

Ray Bahner (’23) is now a photographer for the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 

Grayson Blalock (’24) is now sports information director for women’s basketball, softball, volleyball and women’s golf at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee. 

Mandy Boccio (’18) has joined A+M+L Architecture in Southampton, New York, which specializes in high-end residential and commercial work in the Hamptons, New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut. 

Joe Buettner (’17) is now social media director for OU’s marketing and communications office. 

Daisy Creager (’17) is now a communication and education specialist with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation. 



Tommy Cummings (’81) is now a content editor for Multiview, the nation’s largest digital publisher of association newsletters, guides and communications. 

Abigail Hall (’20) is now lead copywriter at Sagac Public Affairs. 

Amanda Johnson (’19), who is a program manager for Municipal Electrical Systems of Oklahoma, has been selected as a NextGen Under 30 Oklahoma award winner. 

George Lang (’94) is now the student media adviser at Florida Gulf Coast University. 

Karoline Leonard (’24) is now a technology reporter at the Austin American-Statesman.

Linda Lynn (’87) is now business editor at The Oklahoman. 

Deon Osborne (’18) is now managing editor of The Black Wall Street Times. 

Amanda Pinney (’14) is now a project manager/content creator based in Chicago for BigOrange Marketing. 

Rachel Schaub (’18) is now a law clerk for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. 

Sydney Schwarz (’22), a junior media buyer at Insight Creative Group, has been selected as a NextGen Under 30 Oklahoma award winner. 

Jillian Taylor (’23) of StateImpact Oklahoma was among 25 journalists selected for the National Press Foundation’s 2024 Community Development Fellowship. The reporters, who come from nonprofit newsrooms nationwide, gathered in Missoula, Montana, in October for training hosted by the National Press Foundation. 

Beth Wallis (’21) of StateImpact Oklahoma was named the state's outstanding radio reporter by the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists. 

Have news we can share? Email studentmedia@ou.edu. We’d love to share your updates in our next newsletter, which we’ll send in March.

Thanks for reading!

With appreciation,

Seth Prince

Student Media director | OU Daily newsroom adviser

Class of 2000