Journalism grad, student reap awards

Recent COM graduate Anupreeta Das (MS ’07) and current graduate student Babar Taimoor each recently won separate journalism contests.

Das won a best-of-business award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW). Das and Michele Gershberg, correspondents for Thomson Reuters America, won in the “Breaking News, Real-Time News Organizations” category for their reporting on the Microsoft-Yahoo deal talks of 2008 – “Microhoo: How the blockbuster deal blew up”. See the full list of winners.

Here’s what the judges said about their work:

“This package of stories on the Microsoft/Yahoo tap dance was a terrific example of great execution on a breaking news story, offering not just high news value, but also great analysis. In addition, these pieces were so replete with intimate details of the negotiations that you sometimes felt the reporters had been in the room. By giving readers a sense of the people and personalities beyond the numbers, the writers were able to distinguish themselves by taking a narrative approach to what was otherwise a deadline-driven story.”

Taimoor won second prize in the 2009 monthly college writing contest sponsored by The Politicus, a social networking Website that focuses on politics. Taimoor, who is pursuing a joint master’s degree in Journalism and International Relations, won $250 from The Politicus for his article about women’s rights in Islam. Read Taimoor’s story.