Three Students Earn Connecticut Journalism Awards

Fairfield County News reporters recognized for feature writing, reporting, and video work

Key Highlights

• Sacred Heart University students Alexandra Maxwell, Chumani Heard, and Jenna Reynolds won three awards in the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists' College Journalism Contest
• All three winning stories came from Fairfield County News, Sacred Heart University's student-run digital newsroom
• The wins bring Fairfield County News' total to eight journalism awards in its first year of operation

Three Sacred Heart University students were recognized in the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists’ (CT SPJ) College Journalism Contest. Master of Arts in journalism & media production (JMP) student Alexandra Maxwell ’27 took first place in the feature story category for her multimedia report on the Prudence Crandall Museum in Canterbury.

Maxwell's story, A Connecticut School Becomes an Early Test of Civil Rights, examined the nation’s first school established for Black American women and the landmark legal case that followed its founding. The piece was produced through Fairfield County News (FCN), Sacred Heart’s student-run digital news outlet.

^{Alexandra Maxell '27}

Fellow JMP student Chumani Heard ’26 placed second in the general reporting category for Sacred Heart Poll Shows Sports Betting Scandals Hurt Trust in Pro Sports, a story built on original polling data from the University’s own research. Sports communications & media major Jenna Reynolds ’26 earned third place in video storytelling for At Sacred Heart, A New Team Blazes a Trail in Women's Flag Football. All three winning entries came from the FCN and Reynolds’ third-place finish came in the contest's only video storytelling category.

For Maxwell, the recognition carried weight beyond the byline.

“I was glad that I got an award, but I was thrilled that my story got recognition,” Maxwell said. “I saw how happy it made the museum curator that this story was being told beyond just someone going in to see a museum. I made a project that’s reaching more people than just a small town in Connecticut.”

Her reporting also changed the way Maxwell viewed the story she had been assigned to tell. Through her research, she discovered the case was the first civil rights case in the country. That distinction, she said, made the story bigger than the history of one community.

FCN also offered an opportunity to build the kind of portfolio she hopes to take into the workforce.

“I learned so much about how to go about freelance projects and how to approach individuals and get people to have conversations with you. I also learned how to navigate a professional film setting and interview all by myself,” she said.

Maxwell credited much of her growth as a student journalist to faculty mentorship, especially that of Taciane Batista, director of the journalism & media production and communication master’s programs. For Batista, seeing students earn recognition for their work reflects the professional experience FCN provides.

“Being recognized by the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists is a great accomplishment, especially because they are already doing the kind of work they’ll be expected to do as professional journalists,” Batista said. “They’re getting that experience of being a journalist, with all the responsibility that comes with it.”

That mentorship has been especially meaningful to Maxwell, who credits Batista with helping create opportunities for students to have their work recognized beyond the classroom.

“Professor Batista has been the most supportive and helpful mentor in the program,” she said. “The recognition as a student should all go to her because she's really helped build this program and make it what it is and help its students have the opportunity to be recognized.”

The three CT SPJ honors add to a growing list of accolades for FCN in its first year. Maxwell and Heard also won three Digital Media Connecticut awards at the Launchpad Summit in May, and the outlet earned two Connecticut Press Club awards in March for its election coverage and reporting on WSHU funding, bringing the site's total to eight awards since launch.

FCN operates as a hands-on newsroom for Sacred Heart journalism students, giving them the opportunity to report, shoot, edit, and publish professional-caliber stories under faculty guidance. Batista and School of Communication, Media & the Arts’ faculty Joe Alicastro and Ann Marie Somma mentor students on the project. The initiative is supported by a Press Forward grant and a partnership with WSHU Public Radio.