OHIO’s J-School holds virtual annual banquet

Each spring, the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism honors its students with a scholarship banquet. In years past, the banquet was held at Nelson Commons on South Green. Attendance ranged between 250-300 invited guests: students with their family members and friends; University faculty and staff; scholarship donors; and representatives of the Scripps-Howard Foundation.

Attendees looked forward to seeing professor Mary Rogus, chairperson of the school’s scholarship committee, presenting the awards, introducing each student with individual details and “much-anticipated” commentary. After receiving their awards, the students posed for photographs, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with fellow winners, J-School director Bob Stewart, and sometimes their scholarship’s donor.

But that was all in years past, before COVID-19 disrupted campus life in all its unprecedented ways.

This year, the number of scholarship recipients alone is well over the temporary legal limit on public gatherings. Not to mention the inconvenient fact that no one is living or working on campus for the duration of the semester. Would this cherished tradition survive?

It would, if Stewart (who is set to retire in May) had anything to say about it. When the plan to go remote was announced in late March, Stewart hatched a plan.

The “banquet” was held as scheduled on Tuesday, April 21. In place of the traditional large gathering with its catered dinner, attendees followed the Twitter hashtag #ScrippsBanquet2020 and watched Stewart (who wore a tuxedo) serve as livestreaming emcee, playing clips Rogus recorded in advance.

“Our goal was to create, for just a moment anyway, an opportunity to forget about the coronavirus and just focus on our exceptional students, our generous donors, and also, bring together the Scripps School ‘family,’” Stewart said.

Students got in on the action, posting grateful and gracious acceptance tweets, photos in festive attire, and selfies with their families.

“It was so wonderful to be able to recognize our #AmazingScrippsKids, especially during this difficult time,” Rogus said. “I really felt like we were all together celebrating everything that's so great about our school and students.”

In addition to the monetary scholarships (totaling just over $268,000 this year), the school honors seniors in individual categories including service and leadership, and selects outstanding seniors in each major track (Honors Tutorial College, news and information and strategic communication).

Julie Ciotola, an Honors Tutorial College student, won the Overall Outstanding Senior award.

“It was really hard for me to accept that senior year would end this way,” she said. “But having events like the banquet still press on means the world to me. I truly felt connected with my fellow students and our wonderful faculty via Twitter. Even if this isn't how I pictured the banquet, I will remember that night forever, and I'm forever grateful for the amazing experiences Scripps has given me. It has certainly changed my life in the best way.”

Jessica Rutkowski won the Student Media Leader for Strategic Communication. Still in Athens, she watched the livestream with friends.

“The journalism banquet was something I have been looking forward to since my freshman year,” Rutkowski said. “When classes went online for the rest of the semester, my mind immediately started mourning the fact that journalism seniors wouldn’t be honored in the same way. But, of course, the faculty in the Scripps J-School had a plan. It was actually super fun to see all of the awardees being tweeted out one after the other throughout the night on social media because then the awardees’ friends and family could see their recognition.”

Taylor Johnston, digital managing editor for The Post, was awarded the Outstanding Senior award for Entrepreneurship. Still living in Athens, she watched the stream with a friend and on FaceTime with her family.

“Turning on my laptop and navigating to Professor Stewart’s livestream of awards was surreal,” Johnston said. “Even though I haven’t been able to attend classes, see friends in person or finish out my senior year like I had expected these last few weeks, seeing the awards ceremony and receiving recognition really hit home and reminded me that with everything going on, I still made it.”

This year’s awards, in the order they were presented: