Monday, October 15, 2007

Belmont University Student Receives Journalism Award

If you have been around the Refugee Baptist very long, you know that the Tennessee Baptist Convention's official news paper, The Baptist & Reflector, is a frequent target of my barbs for their unbalanced coverage of TBC higher education institutions. They take it well and ignore me. I am OK with that. This morning, I received a call from a Belmont friend who tipped me to a bit of news that (I hope) will actually make the B&R. Chansin Bird, a student at Belmont University, was honored with the President's Award at the recent 2007 Excellence in Journalism Conference hosted by Baptist Press. The award comes with a $1,000 scholarship and a great deal of exposure to some of the best religious journalists in the country. I commend Chansin for her work and the well-deserved recognition.

I first read something by Chansin while she was on a Belmont sponsored mission trip to Honduras last year. Her "One bed for too many children" post on the Reporting from Honduras blog touched me deeply. Since that time, Chansin has written numerous articles for the Belmont Vision, including a recently published story on campus worship. God has great things in store for Chansin and I thank God that he is raising up students who are interested in writing!

Late update 10/16: Belmont News adds that Chansin also won first place in news writing.
Later update 10/17: Baptist Press wrap-up of the conference.

Congratulations Chansin and Belmont University!

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