Some college students spend their summer breaks working at internships, taking extra classes or just hanging out by the pool. Indiana University junior Peter Stevenson is spending his reading Asian travel guides.

That's because Stevenson is one of nine winners of the Roy W. Howard Collegiate Reporting Competition who are preparing to leave Sunday for a 13-day, all-expense paid trip to South Korea and Japan to meet with the area's leading journalists and visit media outlets.

The contest, sponsored by the Scripps Howard Foundation and the Indiana University School of Journalism, honors the memory of the journalist who led Scripps Howard Newspapers from 1922-1953 and United Press International from 1912-1920.

Stevenson has traveled extensively throughout Europe, the Caribbean and India, but he is looking forward to visiting South Korea and Japan for the first time.

"It’s one of those places that few people I've met have got to see," said the political science major during a telephone interview from his home near Washington, D.C. "I'll get to experience, quite literally, what it's like to be on the other side of the world."

Stevenson won’t be the only Hoosier making the trip, however. School of Journalism Dean Brad Hamm, Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies Bonnie Brownlee and associate professor Owen Johnson are serving as tour guides for the group.

Brownlee, who along with Hamm led the competition’s inaugural trip in 2006, is looking forward to her return visit.

"The journalism there is fascinating," she said. "In some ways it is similar to the United States and in some ways it's different. Both have a free press, but the history of it is very different."

The nine winners will have ample opportunity to learn about these differences during their time abroad. The trip's itinerary calls for a three-day visit to Seoul, where the group will meet with journalists and visit the Korean Press Foundation and the Presseum, Korea’s first newspaper magazine. They will spend the remainder of their time in Japan, arriving in Tokyo before heading to the historic city of Kyoto via the bullet train for some sightseeing opportunities.

Johnson, who first visited Korea in 1994, is using this trip as preparation for future courses.

"I can bring what I learn back into the classroom," he said.

Johnson also notes the significance of introducing students to Korean and Japanese cultures, pointing out these countries have two of the leading economies in the world.

Brownlee agrees, adding that exposing students to Asia will hopefully offset current trends.

"Asia, especially that part, is so important to the rest of the world now," she said. "But if you look at where U.S. students study abroad, you won't see them there. They go to Europe, some to Eastern Europe, but beyond that there are few who go to Asia."

Stevenson and the other winners are certainly looking forward to their time in this part of the world, even creating a Facebook group in order to get to know each other before the trip.

"It'll be a fun trip," he said. "I'll get to learn a lot and meet new people."

That may be an understatement, according to Brownlee.

"The overriding thing about this kind of trip is that it will inevitably change their lives in ways they can’t even imagine at this point," she said. "It reinforces for us that getting out of one's environment and going overseas is so important for young journalists to help them better understand parts of the world. It will change their overall outlook."



Read about the other winners in this Scripps Howard Foundation press release.

Read more about Roy W. Howard and his connections to the IU School of Journalism.