May graduate Clara Turnage, from New Hebron, has received The Chronicle of Higher Education’s 2017 David W. Miller Award as the top intern for the most popular publication for college and university professionals.
Turnage, now a reporter at The Natchez Democrat, received $3,000 with the recognition.
The committee cited the graduate of the Meek School of Journalism and New Media for the diversity of three articles, showing her talent for breaking-news, enterprise and investigative journalism. Committee members also noted her writing included vivid language, a strong sense of structure and tempo and a willingness to simply let documents speak for themselves.
Turnage reported from Charlottesville, Va., when violence struck the University of Virginia’s hometown when white supremacists, gathering for a rally, clashed with counterprotesters over plans to remove the statue of a Confederate general. She was in Charlottesville on a different assignment when reassigned.
Her other stories explored the firing of the provost of Texas A&M and an article about the unusually difficult mental-health challenges facing international students on American campuses. Many such students, taking pressure-packed course schedules and coming from cultures that still stigmatize mental illness or even regard it as fiction, are reluctant to seek help.
The award commemorates David W. Miller, a senior writer who was killed by a drunken driver while returning home from a reporting trip.
At Ole Miss, Turnage was a reporter for The Daily Mississippian, serving as editor in her senior year.
