Howard University students and faculty in the Department of Media, Journalism, and Film in the Cathy Hughes School of Communications earned a host of national honors at the National Association of Black Journalists convention in Atlanta this month.

The Howard University News Service earned Best Online Feature Reporting for “Non-Profit Organization Helps Former Foster Care Youth Move-In to HBCUs,” a journalism story produced in the Advanced Multimedia Storytelling class. The story, written by senior Myla S. Roundy  and recent graduates Misha Bernard-Lucien (B.A. ’25), Tia Pitts (B.A. ’26) and Damenica Ellis (B.A. ’25). The project was edited by dominic k. mckenzie, assistant professor of digital storytelling. 

The online feature reporting story profiled Atlanta-based Move-In Day Mafia, which helps young people aging out of foster care transition to college with dorm room essentials, care packages, and emotional support and connection.

“In the Advanced Multimedia Storytelling course, we use a solutions journalism approach to disrupt a deficit-centric news cycle in which Black and brown communities have long been centered, offering an interrogation of solutions rather than problems,” mckenzie said. “Our students ran full throttle with the challenging storytelling approach, and we couldn’t be more proud of the result.”

Tatiana Allen, a junior Honors Journalism student, earned Best Online News Reporting for “In the Midst of Senioritis: College Seniors Struggle to Access Timely Mental Health Support at Howard,”  produced in mckenzie's introductory Multimedia Storytelling class. The story examines the challenges college students face in accessing timely mental health support and focuses on the experiences of Howard  students. 

For the second consecutive year, the Fall 2025 NewsVision Broadcast Journalism Capstone earned Best Newscast for “Your News, Your Vision, Your Community: Presenting the Fall 25 NewsVision Capstone,” which aired on WHUT-TV, Howard University Television. 

Students Jeffrey Jones, Reinah McNeil, Jada White, Noah Jackson, Harmony Bailey, Monet Heath and Kyle Alexander received the award alongside their instructor, Associate Professor Jennifer C. Thomas (B.A.’88), director of the Annenberg Honors Program, who also served as executive producer.

"I am so excited to see the hard work of our capstone students once again recognized with this national award,” Thomas said. “It is the physical representation of the collective outcomes from the other courses within our Department of Media, Journalism and Film. This recognition gives our collegiate broadcast journalists the tangible evidence of what they can do and as multimedia journalists who share stories that might otherwise not be told."

The Department of Media, Journalism, and Film also received two additional nominations. “From Awareness to Action: Nonprofits Empower Washingtonians with Tenant Law,” produced through Howard University News Service, was nominated in the Online Feature Reporting category, while “The Color of Education: A DC Junior High School Centers on Its Mission,” by Jada White, was nominated in the Television Feature: Short Form category. 

Additional recent honors included a first-place finish for Best Independent Online Student Publication in the Region 2 Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Mark of Excellence Awards. It was the second consecutive year Howard University News Service won the regional award. Region 2 includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia. At the national competition, the News Service finished as first runner-up. In 2024, it won the national award in the same category.

Main photo above: Tatiana Allen, prof. dominic k. mckenzie, Myla S. Roundy