{"id":32356,"date":"2024-06-01T12:42:47","date_gmt":"2024-06-01T16:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=32356"},"modified":"2024-06-03T17:06:16","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T21:06:16","slug":"poritzky-25-wins-regional-broadcast-award-heads-to-nationals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/poritzky-25-wins-regional-broadcast-award-heads-to-nationals\/","title":{"rendered":"Poritzky \u201925 wins regional broadcast award, heads to nationals"},"content":{"rendered":"

Elijah Poritzky \u201925 is accustomed to wins on the tennis court as a member of the Furman University men\u2019s tennis team. So, when he won a regional “mark of excellence” award from the Society of Professional Journalists<\/a> (SPJ) for his story, \u201cSustainability Race,\u201d he was stunned.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Elijah Poritzky ’25.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m super excited to get an award like this, one that\u2019s not athletics related. It really means so much to know that my work is being seen by a lot of other schools and people,\u201d Poritzky said.<\/p>\n

Prompted by The Shi Institute for Sustainable Communities<\/a>, Poritzky, a communication studies major who\u2019s minoring in visual strategy and film studies, produced the video in a broadcast communication class led by Mary Sturgill<\/a>, media specialist and instructor. The video first aired on Furman\u2019s \u201cKnightly News\u201d in April 2023.<\/p>\n

In \u201cSustainability Race<\/a>,\u201d the winning entry for the science\/environment\/climate reporting category, Poritzky crafted a timed test of four modes of transportation from Furman\u2019s North Village apartments to Joseph Vaughn Plaza and the James B. Duke Library to determine the most efficient and sustainable method: traveling on foot, or by car, trolley or bike. The video also features a primer on carbon emissions by Furman\u2019s Brannon Andersen<\/a>, the Rose J. Forgione Professor of Earth, Environmental, and Sustainability Sciences.<\/p>\n

Sturgill said Poritzky\u2019s ability to produce content in an accessible way was likely a factor in the win. “To make difficult information easy to digest is an art and a skill, and Elijah does it well in this piece,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Poritzky credits Sturgill for helping him build the skills, he said, adding that the sustainability theme pushed him out of his comfort zone. \u201cI like to make stuff related to sports, documentaries on people, but I think I did a decent job, and I was really happy with the results,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

According to Sturgill, he\u2019ll compete at the national level with other first-place winners from 12 SPJ regions. Results are expected this summer.<\/p>\n

Two others from Furman were finalists in the region: Kelsi Mauzy \u201927 for her narrative podcast<\/a> \u201cFrom Athlete to Ironman\u201d and Lindsay Capps \u201925 for \u201cHow Women Protect Themselves\u201d and other campus stories in the campus reporting<\/a> category.<\/p>\n

Poritzky is building on Furman success. In 2022, Marissa Schabes \u201924 and Jada Walker \u201924 won regional SPJ awards. Schabes won for her podcast “The Extras” and advanced to finalist at nationals. Walker was awarded for her story, “Mold in North Village.” The same year, Abigail Newcomb \u201924 was a finalist in the regional competition for her story, “Sydney Beraho.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThis recognition from the Society of Professional Journalists is important because it\u2019s judged by industry leaders,\u201d Sturgill said. \u201cSo, to win or be a finalist in our region is a tremendous accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mac McArthur<\/a>, chair and professor of communication studies, said, “Elijah brings his personality and focus to the craft of multimedia storytelling, and he represents the well-rounded expertise that Furman\u2019s liberal arts curriculum builds through a major in communication studies. Elijah excels in the classroom, behind the camera, on the court and in his community.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Poritzky’s story won a regional award from the Society of Professional Journalists. His video about the most sustainable and efficient way to travel to the center of campus from North Village won an award in the science\/environment\/climate reporting category.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":32360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,24,51,35,18,61],"tags":[175,2830,2829,2828,1337,198],"class_list":["post-32356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-athletics","category-communication-studies","category-parent-news","category-shi-institute-for-sustainable-communities","category-the-furman-advantage","tag-broadcast-media","tag-campus-reporting","tag-podcasting","tag-society-of-professional-journalists","tag-storytelling","tag-sustainability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32356"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32432,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32356\/revisions\/32432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}