Skip to Content

College of Information and Communications

J-school honors accomplished alumni at awards dinner

The School of Journalism and Mass Communications presented awards to six alumni at the annual awards ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022. The awards recognize exceptional graduates whose careers represent significant professional achievement. The ceremony also honored two faculty for excellence in teaching.

Distinguished Alumni

The Distinguised Alumni Award honors graduates who completed school more than 10 years ago and whose careers represent significant professional achievement. 

Kathy Blackwell

Kathy Blackwell, ‘91 — Executive Editor, Texas Monthly

Kathy Blackwell is an executive editor at Texas Monthly — an award-winning magazine in Austin, Texas. Before joining the magazine in 2017, she was a longtime senior editor at the Austin American-Statesman newspaper and served as editor-in-chief of Austin Way magazine.

“Kathy is a brilliant and hard-working editor who is devoted to the writers she works with and makes their pieces shine,” said Jeffrey Salamon, one of her colleagues at Texas Monthly. 

Zubin Bamji

Zubin Bamji, ‘91 — Manager, World Bank's Energy & Extractives Global Practice

Zubin Bamji is the manager for the World Bank's Energy & Extractives Global Practice.

Prior to his position at the World Bank, Bamji was a senior advisor for the U.S. Department of Commerce. He has also served as director of brand management and communications for NPR and as an account supervisor for Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.

Bamji earned a Master of Mass Communication at USC in 1991. 

Win McNamee

Win McNamee, ‘85 — Chief Photographer/News, Getty Images

Win McNamee is the chief photographer/news at Getty Images. He has been with Getty for 17 years. Prior to that he was a photojournalist at Reuters for 14 years.

McNamee has covered some of the most significant news events of the last 30 years — three presidents, the Gulf War, the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

In May 2022, the work of McNamee and his fellow photographers at Getty Images was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in journalism. 

 

Outstanding Young Alumni

The Outstanding Young Alumni Award honors graduates who have completed school within the past 10 years and who have demonstrated significant professional accomplishments early in their careers. 

Analis Bailey

Analis Bailey, ‘19 — Sports Reporter, USA Today 

Analis Bailey was a leader on campus, so it isn’t surprising she is achieving significant success in the professional world where she is a sports reporter for USA Today. You can see her interviewing NFL stars like Tom Brady, sportscasters like Bob Costas and covering the Kentucky Derby.

Bailey is also passionate about stories at the intersection of sports, culture, race and gender, such as the Decade of the Woman in sports.

At USC, Bailey was president of the campus chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists. 

Chuck Ringwalt

Chuck Ringwalt, ‘15 — News Anchor and Multimedia Journalist, Spectrum News 1 

Charles "Chuck" Ringwalt is a news anchor and multimedia journalist for Spectrum News 1 in Columbus, Ohio. He is the main co-anchor for the Your Morning show at News 1. Chuck’s reporting at News 1 has earned him an Emmy and an Associated Press award.

“I’ve been struck by his passion for the audience, and bringing them content that adds value to their daily lives,” said Andy Vance, his colleague at News 1.

While a student at USC, Ringwalt worked as a multimedia journalist with News 19 WLTX. 

Anna Wiederkehr

Anna Wiederkehr, ‘12 — Designer, Observable 

Anna Wiederkehr is a designer at Observable where she designs interfaces for the visual display of data. Prior to her current position, she was a senior visual journalist for Disney/ABC News FiveThirtyEight, an award-winning, data-driven news website focusing on polling, politics and sports.

Wiederkehr was named the SJMC Outstanding Visual Communications Major in 2012 and earned a Master of Arts in design at Zurich University of the Arts in Zurich, Switzerland, in 2017.

After graduating, she led the graphics desk at the Neue Zurcher Zietung, a daily newspaper of record in Switzerland. 

 

Mary Caldwell Excellence in Teaching

The Mary Caldwell Teaching Award is awarded annually to a School of Journalism and Mass Communications faculty member for outstanding teaching. 

Randy Covington

Randy Covington — 2020 Award Recipient 

Randy Covington is the college’s director of special projects where he oversees the Social Media Insights Lab, scholastic journalism and several other initiatives. He also teaches courses in media freedom, responsibility and ethics and international mass communications.

Prior to coming to USC, he worked in television news for 27 years, serving in management positions for stations in Houston, Louisville, Boston, Philadelphia and Columbia. His awards include a du Pont Columbia Citation, four Emmys and an Ohio State Award. 

Leigh Moscowitz

Leigh Moscowitz — 2022 Award Recipient

Leigh Moscowitz teaches courses in the undergraduate and graduate programs in media and public relations writing, research methods, media literacy and gender in media.

Moscowitz is the author of two books, "The Battle over Marriage: Gay Rights Activism through the Media" (University of Illinois Press, 2013) and "Snatched: Coverage of Child Abductions in U.S. News Media" (Peter Lang Publishing, 2015).

Her ongoing work investigates media coverage of gay athletes in professional team sports and the televisual production of class and gender in popular reality TV shows. 

 

 

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

©