The School of Journalism and Mass Communication held its annual Student Exhibition and Scholarship Celebration on April 10, 2025. The event features student work from SJMC classes and recognizes scholarship and award recipients.

"We are recognizing the hard work that students put into their classes by sharing with those inside and outside the school,” Michelle Sillman, SJMC Recruitment, Internship, and Placement Coordinator said.

Professors submit student work from their courses that they think demonstrate top skill and understanding of the course requirements. The works is professionally printed and displayed in Adler. Multimedia work is published online for viewers to fully appreciate.

At this year's showcase, more than 40 students had work recognized from a variety of classes, including Graphic Design, Photography, Producing Film Criticism, and Visual Communication and Design.

“This is a way for students who might be interested in those classes to see and interact with the type of work that they might be expected to do in that class,” Sillman said.

Sillman said the goal of the event is to create community between students and faculty.

"The culture of a community is really important to me, so I was looking for ways to help build the community culture in the journalism school,” Sillman said.

In addition to showcasing student work, SJMC recognized scholarship recipients and the winners of the Outstanding Writing Award.

SJMC awarded more than $300,000 in scholarships to current and incoming students. These scholarships are a critical part of student support in SJMC. The Outstanding Writing Award not only recognizes excellence in writing, but also includes a cash prize for the top three places.

Alice Cruse won first place for her piece, “Iowa’s Abortion Law is Dangerously Vague, Iowa Health Providers, Advocates and Democrats Warn,” which she wrote for her Political Reporting class and later published in Little Village.

Cruse, a senior this semester, said she was extremely happy to receive the award after spending her semester working on the story.

“I was proud of the work I did. I spent weeks working on it and I was happy with how it did in the class,” Cruse said.

With guidance from professor Ty Rushing, Cruse had her work published in Little Village.

“I'd never had anything professionally published before, so that was super exciting,” Cruse said. “I had wanted to submit something if I could and so I figured this was a great candidate. I thought I had a darn good shot at third place, so I was really excited when I won.”