Two writers for American Journalism Review, the national journalism magazine published by the Merrill College, each won the Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism from the National Press Club, the organization announced June 19.

AJR Managing Editor Rachel Smolkin and senior contributing writer Charles Layton swept the print category of the Rowse Awards, the second consecutive year AJR won all of the Rowse print category. Smolkin’s “Adapt or Die” took the single entry category. This is her third Rowse award in the last four years.

Layton won the “body of work” award for his work that appeared in the magazine. He also is a veteran Rowse winner for his work in AJR, including wins in 2005, 2004, 2003 and 2000.

Also honored was NPR’s David Folkenflik, who won the broadcast segment of the criticism category. The awards will be presented at a banquet on July 16 at the National Press Club. The full list of winners can be viewed here.

Brittany Lee-Richardson, a junior at the Merrill College, has won the Betty Endicott scholarship from the National Television Academy’s National Capital/Chesapeake Bay Chapter.

Lee-Richardson accepted the $5,000 award at Saturday’s annual regional Emmy ceremony at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C. The scholarship, named after the region’s first female news director, honors a full-time student studying journalism or communication and is selected on academic and professional achievement.

American Journalism Review, the national journalism magazine housed at the Merrill College, won a Mirror Award for Overall Excellence today in New York. The contest, sponsored by Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, honors “the best in media industry reporting.”

The Mirror Awards, launched this year, honor the reporters and editors who “hold a mirror to their own industry for the public’s benefit.” Honorees are recognized for “news judgment and command of craft in reporting, analysis and commentary on developments in the media industry and its role in our economy, culture and democracy.”

AJR Editor and Vice President Rem Rieder and Managing Editor Rachel Smolkin accepted the award during the ceremony hosted by Meredith Vieira at Manhattan’s W Hotel. Smolkin was also a finalist in the profile category for her article on Brian Tierney, the PR mogul who purchased the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2006.

Also winning awards were writers for the New York Times, New York Magazine and The Economist. All winners and finalists can be viewed here: http://mirrorawards.syr.edu/

A new study out from the International Center for Media and the Public Agenda measures just how candid media are about what they do and how they do it. ICMPA’s newest study looks at 25 of the world’s top news sites to see which ones correct their errors, are open about their journalistic standards, and welcome reader comments and criticism.

“News outlets call for transparency by others and are balking at transparency for themselves,’” noted researcher Susan D. Moeller, a journalism professor at the University of Maryland and the director of the ICMPA which conducted the study.  “The media are in the position of saying to the Enrons and Arthur Andersens out there, ‘Do as I say, not as I do.”

Which were the best?

* The Guardian
* The New York Times
* The Christian Science Monitor
* National Public Radio

Which were among the worst?

* Time magazine
* Al Jazeera
* CNN
* The Economist

The full study can be seen here: http://www.icmpa.umd.edu/pages/studies/transparency/main.html

The Casey Journalism Center on Children and Families announced the recipients of their Casey Journalism Awards today. Winners will receive a Casey Medal and $1,000 at a fall event in Washington, D.C. More than 700 journalists entered this year’s contest.

CJC is a nonprofit program of the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism and funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation (which also funds the contest), the Freddie Mac Foundation and individual donors. Since 1993, CJC has been a trusted resource for thousands of journalists covering critical social issues.

Sarah Merkey (BA ‘07) was announced the winner of a $2,500 scholarship from the Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Association at the organization’s annual convention in Ocean City, MD on June 2.

The scholarship, open to juniors and seniors majoring in mass communications or journalism at colleges and universities in Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C., and interns earning credits at CAPBA stations, is won on the basis of a submitted essay. Merkey is the second Merrill student to win the award: Dorothy Ramienski, a 2004 graduate now working for Federal News Radio, was also a recipient of the award.

Sue Kopen Katcef, an instructor at the Merill College and executive producer of Maryland Newsline, was elected to a three year term on the board of directors of the Chesapeake Associated Press Broadcasters Association on June 2. Katcef, who was serving on the board previously as a interim member, will help direct the association as it serves as an official liaison between AP member stations and the Mid-Atlantic Bureau and its staff in Delaware, Maryland and Washington, DC.