Announcing the 2011 AWSM Internship Class

March 3, 2011

This fall was a record-breaking year for the AWSM internship and scholarship program. The program saw 101 students apply, which is the most in program history and nearly double the total from the year before. A total of 134 entries were submitted for consideration.

“Each year our scholarship and internship program becomes increasingly more competitive,” said Stacy Hicklin, co-program director. “This year’s field of applicants was especially impressive, making the selection of finalists and internship winners difficult.”

This year’s winners are Emily Bayci, Colorado Springs Gazette; Christina DeNicola, MLB.com/Betty Brennan Scholarship; Jamie Erdahl, ESPN/Gene and Jackie Autry Scholarship; Sarah Kuta, Denver Post/Sports Journalism Institute Selection; Joan Niesen, Sports Illustrated/Mike Roberts Memorial Scholarship; and Audrey Snyder, MLB.com/Jim Brennan Scholarship. Click on each name or scroll down to learn more about the women selected.

Emily Bayci
Colorado Springs Gazette

Emily Bayci is a junior at University of Illinois and majoring in News-Editorial Journalism. She has spent the past two and a half years as a sports reporter for the The Daily Illini, the student newspaper, covering general assignments and beat writing for women’s gymnastics and volleyball.

Her duties at The Daily Illini also include working as the day time assignment editor, a copy editor, a page designer and a member of the web staff. In addition to her work at the school newspaper, she is also the managing editor for the The Illio, the school yearbook.

Christina DeNicola
MLB.com
Betty Brennan Scholarship

Christina DeNicola is a senior at the University of Miami and is set to graduate in May. She currently holds a 3.884 GPA and is a double major in Print Journalism and Sport Administration.

She is the Editor-In-Chief of The Miami Hurricane, her school paper, and has also served in the roles of assistant sports editor and beat writer for football, baseball, tennis and soccer. In addition to her work on campus, DeNicola has served as the Miami correspondent for the ACC football blog for two years.

Last summer, DeNicola interned for the Bleacher Report and was an intern for Collegebaseballinsider.com during the spring of 2009. She has also worked for the Miami Heat’s Marking Communication Department, writing features for the Heat website and Tipoff Magazine, for the past three years.

Jamie Erdahl
ESPN
Gene and Jackie Autry Scholarship

Jamie Erdahl is senior at American University in Washington D.C. and plans to graduate in December with a Media & Society Communications Degree and a minor in Health Promotion.

She spent one year working in the Sports Communication Office at American as an intern. Erdahl has also worked for the campus TV station EaglesVision TV, where she did play-by-play for volleyball and women’s basketball. She hosts Eye on the Eagles, a monthly 30-minute television show on Comcast SportsNet which takes an in-depth look at American University Athletics.

Erdahl spent last summer interning for 1500 ESPN Twin Cities in Minneapolis, MN. After spending the spring 2009 semester interning at KMSP Fox 9 TV in Minneapolis, she spent the summer interning for KARE 11 TV in Minneapolis. In addition to her television and radio work, Erdahl was a field reporter for NikeWomen.com during the 2009-10 school year, where she covered Team USA basketball training camp.

Sarah Kuta
Denver Post
Sports Journalism Institute Selection

Sarah Kuta is a junior at Northwestern and currently has a 3.79 GPA. She has worked at The Daily Northwestern, the campus newspaper, as a sports writer, city reporter and a photographer. Kuta has covered football, men’s soccer, women’s basketball, volleyball, men’s tennis, men’s golf, men’s swimming and women’s fencing.

In addition to her work on campus, she was also a bi-weekly columnist, feature writer, photographer and reporter at the Grand Island Independent in Grand Island, Nebraska for two years. Kuta also worked for the city of Grand Island as a videographer, on-air anchor for special news and scriptwriter.

Kuta has also been a member of the Northwestern Dance Team for nearly three years, is the scholarship chair for Gamma Phi Beta sorority and is the training chair for sexual health and assault peer education at Northwestern.

Joan Niesen
Sports Illustrated
Mike Roberts Memorial Scholarship

Joan Niesen graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown in the spring of 2009 with an economics degree and will graduate this summer from the University of Missouri with a masters degree in journalism (Magazine writing).

She has spent the past year and a half writing for The Columbia Missourian as a general reporter and football beat writer. Niesen spent last summer as an editorial intern at Standard & Poor’s/McGraw-Hill and also did a summer internship with the St. Louis Business Journal. She also spent a year and a half as a research assistant at the Hudson Institute and is proficient in French.

Audrey Snyder
MLB.com
Jim Brennan Scholarship

Audrey Snyder is a junior at Penn State, majoring in journalism and secondary education. She has spent the past year covering Penn State football for The Daily Collegian, which meant writing six stories a week, along with creating videos and podcasts along with Twitter and blogs. Snyder has also covered PSU women’s basketball, women’s tennis, softball, swimming and diving, men’s cross country and field hockey.

Last summer, she interned with The Daily Local News in West Chester, PA. covering local news and police reporting. During the summer of 2009, Snyder interned with the State College Spikes Single-A baseball team, writing game stories and features along with in-game blogging.

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