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2008 Howard winners Julia Wong and McKenna Ewen practiced their anchoring skills in the KBS exhibition hall. The 2009 group also will visit several media organizations.

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Nine journalism students from across the nation and from IU leave Saturday to explore the culture and media of South Korea and Japan.

As winners of the Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition, the students receive a 14-day, all-expense paid trip  from the Scripps Howard Foundation, which sponsors the program with the assistance of the Indiana University School of Journalism. Dean Brad Hamm and assistant professor Emily Metzgar will lead the students, including IU journalism major Brian Spegele, one of the nine winners.

The competition, established in 1984, honors the memory of Roy W. Howard, who led Scripps Howard Newspapers from 1922-1953 and United Press International from 1912-1920. Asia was an area of special interest to Howard, who traveled and reported on the area extensively, even while leading major news organizations.

Hamm, a Howard scholar and frequent traveler to Asia, has led the students for the last several years. The group usually visits cultural sites such as Osaka Castle in Japan and the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea, and media organizations such as broadcast stations and newspapers.

This year, tensions with North Korea threatened to change the itinerary. Hamm said he prepared a back-up itinerary to visit only Japan and see cities that were originally not included in this trip. However, as South Korea remains unaffected, the trip will be conducted according to the original itinerary.

“South Korea is a wonderful place and it is safe,” said Hamm. “We made a back-up plan just in case.”

The students began preparing shortly after the foundation announced their selections. They have been reading works such as Confucius Lives Next Door and some of Howard’s writing. The School of Journalism is home to the Roy W. Howard archives, including Howard’s writing, photos and correspondence, which reflect Howard’s own interest in and travels to Asia.

Photo by Riya V. Anandwala

IU’s Brian Spegele is one of nine Howard winners from across the nation. He joins the group Saturday to being the trip.

Metzgar, who lived in Japan for two years after completing her Japanese Exchange and Teaching Program, also traveled with Ralph Winslow Visiting Professor Jim Bright’s J460 International Public Relations class to Japan over spring break. She said it is crucial for students here to visit places in Asia and learn the culture there.

“I had been to Japan with Jim Bright’s class and watched the students experience Japan for the first time,” she said. “I am biased toward students getting out and seeing the world.”

Howard winner Spegele already is well-traveled, having spent time in China.

“I look forward to the entire trip,” he said. “To see a city like Tokyo, though, is one of the things I am look most forward to. And Seoul, with all its technological advancement, will be a particularly fascinating place to see as well.”

A double major in journalism and international studies with a minor in Chinese, he has been reading English-language newspapers from the two countries to get a better idea of what issues are facing the country.

Winners were chosen based on entries and an essay. Sue Porter of the Scripps Howard Foundation said several of this year’s winners, like Spegele, already have traveled internationally are well-prepared to make the most of the opportunity.