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Student earns trip to Japan as winner in national reporting competition

Zinnia Maldonado, a sophomore from Philadelphia, was one of nine winners of the Scripps Howard Foundation’s Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

A Penn State student was recently named one of nine winners of the Scripps Howard Foundation’s Roy W. Howard National Collegiate Reporting Competition.

Sophomore broadcast journalism major Zinnia Maldonado, a native of Philadelphia, was awarded a nine-day trip to Japan beginning May 12. She’s the first Penn State student to win the competition.

According to Maldonado, the trip will include a mix of cultural and journalistic visits, traveling to media organizations around the island. The group will travel to Hiroshima, Kyoto, Kobe, Osaka and Tokyo. 

“It’s really exciting, especially coming from someone who hasn’t had the chance to travel out of the United States,” said Maldonado. “I’m excited to be immersed in that Japanese culture, even if it’s only for nine days. That’s still a unique opportunity for any person, especially for someone at a young age still in school.”

Winners were a mixture of broadcast, online and print journalists. Each had to submit a resume, essay, samples of work and a letter of recommendation.

Maldonado is also working toward minors in international relations and digital media analytics. A Bunton-Waller Fellow, she is highly involved at Penn State, serving as a writer for the Daily Collegian, a host and anchor for two PSNtv shows and writes for the Penn State Association of Journalists for Diversity’s newsletter. The past two summers, she was a digital media intern for NBC-10 in Philadelphia. 

Maldonado will start the trip in San Francisco, where she will meet the rest of the winners and Indiana University associate professor Emily Metzgar, who will lead the trip. From San Francisco, the winners will fly as a group to Japan. While she doesn’t plan to learn Japanese, she will still prepare for the trip.

“One of my sister’s best friends studied abroad in Japan for 10 months,” said Maldonado. “She went to Penn State, too. I’m actually planning a meeting with her and she’s going to help me brush up on my Japanese skills.”

The competition, established in 1984 in cooperation with Indiana University, honors the memory of the journalist who led Scripps Howard Newspapers from 1922-1953 and United Press from 1912-1920. This year marks the 11th year that the Scripps Howard Foundation has awarded the study tour to Japan to competition winners.

Last Updated June 2, 2021