A group of nine Roy W. Howard Collegiate Reporting Competition winners and their chaperones are back in the U.S. after traveling to Japan and Korea to examine those countries' culture and media.

The students were selected for the award based on their essays and reporting work, which they submitted earlier this year.

The 2007 winners are Whitney Boyd, Hampton University; Darla Slipke, University of Kansas; Ciara O'Rourke, Western Washington; Garesia Randle, Louisiana State; Justin Hite, Elon University; Peter Stevenson, Indiana University; Ken Cummings, Tennessee State; Sean Rose, University of Kentucky; and Drew Harwell, University of Florida.

The award is sponsored by the Scripps Howard Foundation in honor of Roy W. Howard, president of United Press, 1912-1920, and chairman of the board of Scripps Howard Newspapers, 1922-1953.



Read about more about the trip.

Read about the winners.

Read about the Roy W. Howard archive at the School of Journalism.



Below are entries from the group's trip diary.

Saturday, June 23, 2007
Students will fly to their respective home cities following a noon awards luncheon.

Friday, June 22, 2007
The group will leave in the early afternoon for Tokyo's Narita Airport for a 5:25 p.m. flight to Los Angeles on Japan Airlines. They are scheduled to arrive in Los Angeles at 11:20 a.m. Friday and, after clearing immigration and customs, will take a 2:30 p.m. flight to Chicago O'Hare, landing around 8:30 p.m.

Thursday, June 21, 2007
The Roy Howard winners spent the morning of their last full day in Japan learning more about Roy W. Howard, the man for whom the competition is named.

Nearly 74 years to the day after Roy Howard visited the Imperial Palace, the nine winners went there as well. Trip leader Brad Hamm, dean of the IU School of Journalism and a Roy Howard scholar, told the group that Howard's persistence and strong relationships in Japan laid the foundation for him to get the interview.

At a time when few Americans traveled to Asia, Howard had been to Japan before and had met with Japanese journalism leaders at his home in New York. He had significant deep relationships in Japan and then when the time came, it produced this interview, Hamm said.

But getting the interview required some persistence. Howard arrived in Japan in May with the hopes of interviewing the emperor that month. Eventually, he had to leave for China, but he came back through Japan before leaving for home. He got the interview and published the story in his papers on June 23, 1933.

The first two paragraphs of the story read "Japanese-American friendship, understanding and co-operation are of the utmost importance to peace, not only in the Far East, but in the world, in the opinion of his imperial majesty, Hirohito, Emperor of Japan.

"This fact was impressed forcefully on me today when I was granted the first audience extended to an American newspaperman by any Japanese ruler."

After visiting the palace grounds, the group went to Asakusa, to see the famous giant lantern at the gate for Sensoji, Tokyo's largest Buddhist temple. Later, they took a cruise down the Sumidagawa River from Asakusa to the northern edge of Tokyo Bay and the Rainbow Bridge. Then the group visited Akihabara, the "electric town" filled with electronics shops.

The students had some free time in the evening to explore Tokyo on the last night before returning to the U.S.


Wednesday, June 20, 2007
As their tour through Asia winds down, the Roy Howard winners are still going strong. The group started the day with a 9 a.m. tour of the Tsukiji fish market, the largest market in the world. The market, which opens at 4 to 5 a.m. is where the fish is sold to wholesalers. The fish market is an important part of Japanese culture since the Japanese diet is heavily seafood-based, said Dean Brad Hamm. After the tour, the group ate a sushi lunch at a 24-hour restaurant located just outside the market.

In the afternoon, the group went to Asahi Shimbun, the second-largest circulation newspaper in the world. It is right across the street from the market. The group saw a video about the newspaper, toured the building (including watching part of the 3.6-million copy afternoon press run) and met with four reporters for a 90-minute question and answer session.

Hiroshi Ogino, the associate director for the Institute of Journalism at Asahi, told students about the training programs at his and other Japanese newspapers. Unlike America, Japan has few journalism schools and job placement occurs based on standardized test scores. So newspapers extensively train their new reporters and the Institute of Journalism is Asahi's training operation.

Ogino talked to the students about the decline in circulation for Japanese newspapers, similar to trends in most countries throughout the world. However, he said Asahi's competitor, Yomiuri, has a circulation of 10 million in the morning and Asahi has a morning circulation of 8 million — nearly four times larger than USA Today. More than 2,500 people work on Asahi's editorial staff including nearly 1,400 people in Tokyo alone.

Ogino also talked about the difficulty in trying to make money from a journalism Web site, though Asahi has a tremendous Internet presence.

Also joining the discussion were Mariko Sugiyama, a reporter for Tokyo news section; Saho Kudo, a cultural reporter who is also involved in the Newspaper in Education program; and Yasuko Murota, manager of Asahi's customer satisfaction department. Three of the four journalists had lived abroad and two were sent to New York City after Sept. 11 to cover the deaths of Japanese citizens working in World Trade Center.

After more than three hours at Asahi Shimbun, the students returned to the hotel before leaving for the 6 p.m. game between the Yomiuri (Tokyo) Giants and the Chiba (Lotte) Marines,­ both in first place in their divisions. The Giants won the game, but more important, Hamm said, the game was a wonderful way for the students to observe Japanese culture. The atmosphere is more like an American college football or basketball game complete with pep bands and fans waving giant flags, he said. The crowd chants in unison throughout much of the game.


Tuesday, June 19, 2007
The Roy W. Howard winners went to Osaka castle today and learned about Japanese history in the 1600s and 1700s. The castle itself is a reconstruction. Osaka castle was built in the 1600s, but has undergone a number of
refurbishments and restorations. The reconstructed castle now serves as museum with exhibits and observation deck overlooking the city of Osaka.

After lunch, the group took the Shinkansen train to Tokyo. Shortly after they arrived on the platform, so did pop star Christina Aguilera, who was taking the bullet train that left a few minutes before the group's. Aguilera performed in Osaka Monday and is scheduled fort two concerts in Tokyo Tuesday and Wednesday.

On the train to Tokyo, the students saw the top of Mt. Fuji, a treat because the peak is often covered by clouds. The group arrived in Tokyo station in early evening and checked into their recently-opened hotel near the bullet train station.


Monday, June 18, 2007
Monday, the group of Roy W. Howard winners visited the Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS), which started out as Japan's first commercial radio station. Atsuhiko Sumoto of the MBS international relations division served as host to the group. Sumoto worked for MBS in New York City at the time of Sept. 11 and returned to Japan in 2003.

The group toured the MBS stations and then enjoyed an hour-long discussion of journalism with five reporters, three of whom cover the justice, social issues and economics/government beats in Osaka, one who covers Kobe and one general assignment reporter. Afterward, MBS provided a buffet lunch where students could talk individually with the reporters.

In the evening, the group traveled to the southern part of Osaka called Namba, an area popular with young people. There, they ate "shabu shabu," a meal where vegetables and thinly-sliced beef are cooked in boiling water at the table.

Sunday, June 17, 2007
Sunday, the group explored the city of Kyoto, which served as Japan's capital for more than 1,000 years. Though the rainy season has started in Japan, the weather was sunny and warm as the group toured the 500-year-old Ryoanji Rock Garden, the Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), Heian Shinto Shrine and Kiyomizu Temple.

Saturday, June 16, 2007
Saturday, the group traveled from Seoul to Osaka and enjoyed a traditional Japanese dinner upon their arrival.


Friday, June 15, 2007
The group of Roy W. Howard winners spent most of the day visiting the the demilitarized zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea more than 50 years after Roy Howard himself went there during the Korean conflict. The trip provided the students a chance to see the stark contrast between a dictatorship and a democracy.

The DMZ visit started at the Third Tunnel, which was discovered in 1978 and was where North Koreans were digging in an attempt to infiltrate South Korea.

The students also checked out Freedom Bridge, the road linking North and South Korea. At this time, a metal barrier blocks the road preventing access to the North. South Koreans frequently leave flowers notes and messages at the bridge to honor relatives who are in North Korea.

The group also went to the Dora Observatory, which overlooks a Hyundai-built industrial center. The center employs North Koreans and is near the "Propaganda Village," also on the North Korean side. This is a nearly empty but modern-looking city built by North Korea to create the impression of prosperity for those looking across from the South.

The group also made a stop at Dorasan Station, a train station built in 2002 in the hopes of reunification. The goal is that if the border is open again, that station would serve as a connecting point between the South and North. May 17, the first trains in more than 50 years crossed the border at Dorasan. One train from North Korea went south and one train from South Korea went north. The train-crossing is a hopeful sign for warmer relations in the future.

After leaving the DMZ, the students saw a changing of the guard ceremony at the gate of Deoksugung Palace in Seoul. Students also had some free time in Seoul to shop and do additional sightseeing.


Thursday, June 14, 2007
Thursday, the Roy W. Howard winners visited Korea University, considered one of the top three universities in the country. The students met for an hour with the president of the university, Sung-Joo Han. He talked about the university and discussed the significant English-language requirements there.

All Korea University students must complete 15 hours of classes taught in English. Forty percent of all Korea University journalism classes are taught in English. Han, who started his career as a broadcast journalist, also answered the students' questions about advice for young journalists. Han presented each student with a gift of a memory stick and the students presented him with gifts with the IU logo on them.

The group toured the university and visited the student television operation. After lunch on campus, students traveled to KBS, the nation's public television network, where they visited sets for drama shows, game shows, network news and other programming. They watched a live show that has been broadcast for 22 years throughout Korea. They also checked out the prop room and tried on historic Korean costumes used in KBS dramas. The students also rode the subway for the first time today.

Current journalism graduate student Ben Weller, who lived in Pusan, South Korea, for three years, met the students for dinner and showed them around Seoul for the evening.

Read Weller's blog about his journeys.


Wednesday, June 13, 2007
The students were up for breakfast by 8 a.m. and left at 9 a.m. to go to the Korea Press Foundation, a non-profit organization to promote journalism in Korea.

At the foundation, students met for a discussion of Korean history led by Yong Wook Chung, professor of Korean history at Seoul National University. Chung told the students about the occupations and wars the Korean people have endured during the 20th century. Until the 1980s, the South Korean government had tight control on freedom, but since then, he said, the country has moved toward greater democracy and greater press freedom, helping to create a country more responsive to the people.

It was important for the students to get this overview of Korea at the beginning of the trip, said Dean Brad Hamm.

The students were joined at the talk by a special group of Korea Press Foundation Fellows, a program for foreign journalists from developing countries to learn more about Korea.

Next, the students ate a Korean meal, which included Korean iced noodles (a cold noodle soup, served during hot summer days). The students ate lunch on raised floor without chairs in the traditional Korean style.

In the afternoon, the students toured the Presseum, which traces the more than 100 years of journalism in Korea. The Presseum includes exhibits of original newspapers, printing presses, classic photojournalism and a collection of Jan. 1 2000 newspapers from around the world.

After the Presseum, the group went to JoongAng Ilbo. Soong Joo Lim, director of the M Project Team, the company¹s multimedia division, discussed how JoongAng is dealing with journalism in a new media age. Later, students toured the company's divisions (newspaper, magazine, television, Internet). They also saw the company's printing press. Dean Brad Hamm and journalism professor Dave Weaver met with JoongAng Ilbo President Seok-hyun Hong in March during a visit to Korea. Hong is former chair of World Association of Newspapers.

In then evening, the students were treated to a traditional Korean dinner with more than 20 dishes. Ha Kyung Lee, editor of the culture and sports division of JoongAng Ilbo, hosted the dinner. Lee spent 2000-2001 as a School of Journalism visiting scholar. Ji-Young Choi, a reporter on the international news desk of JoongAng Ilbo and Sung Tae Kim, an Indiana University alumnus, now of Korea University, also joined the group.


Check out the Korea Press Foundation Web site.
Read more about JoongAng Ilbo.


Tuesday, June 12, 10 p.m. (Seoul time)
The group arrived in Tokyo and made a quick switch to flight into Seoul. They came into Seoul at sunset and were met at the airport by Young Min, a professor at Korea University and a friend of Dean Brad Hamm. She escorted the group to the Best Western New Seoul Hotel.

Monday, June 11, 2:30 p.m.
The group flew from Chicago to Los Angeles and arrived 45 minutes early. Those lucky enough to have window seats enjoyed views of Pike's Peak, the Grand Canyon, Nevada and California landscapes.

Sunday, June 10, 10 p.m.
All Roy Howard winners and chaperones arrived in Chicago without incident. The nine student winners met with trip leaders School of Journalism Dean Brad Hamm, Associate Dean Bonnie Brownlee and professor Owen Johnson for a 90-minute orientation session and dinner.