2 KU students place in national journalism sports writing competition

LAWRENCE -- Two University of Kansas journalism students recently placed in the top 20 in the national Hearst Journalism Awards Program.

Ryan Wood, a senior in journalism from Lee's Summit, Mo., and Doyle Murphy, a senior in journalism from Baldwin City, tied for 12th place and placed 18th, respectively, out of 64 entries in the sports writing division of the Hearst Foundation's annual writing competition.

The story Wood submitted for the contest, titled "Home Alone," dealt with the lack of attendance at KU Olympic sporting events. Wood got the idea for the story while covering a KU women's basketball game at Kansas State University in Manhattan. About 8,800 fans attended that game, while KU averages about 1,500 fans for women's games.

Wood spent two months researching the story, which expanded to discuss the KU women's soccer program and the baseball and softball programs. The story ran in the University Daily Kansan, KU's student newspaper, on April 4, 2002.

Wood is the son of Rob and Anne Wood of Lee's Summit and is a Lee's Summit North High School graduate. He has worked for the Kansan for four semesters, covering the women's basketball team, the women's soccer team and the baseball team and serving as a sports columnist. He currently is a sports columnist and copy editor at the Kansan. He also works as a sportswriter at the Lawrence Journal-World.

Wood will graduate in May and hopes to land a full-time sports reporting job at a newspaper or magazine.

Murphy submitted a story titled "Spirit of the Beast" about the live mascots kept at Big 12 schools. His inspiration came on a trip to Waco, Texas, to cover the KU-Baylor University football game. Murphy came across the school's bear pit while exploring Baylor's campus before the game. Seeing the bears piqued his interest in how other live mascots in the conference are cared for. The story ran in the Kansan Dec. 11, 2002.

Murphy is the son of Jack and Rosemary Murphy and is a Baldwin City High School graduate. He has worked at the Kansan for three semesters, first as a news clerk, then as the football and women's basketball beat writer. He currently is the men's basketball beat writer. After graduating in May 2004, Murphy hopes to obtain a newspaper reporting job.

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program consists of monthly writing, photojournalism and broadcast news competitions, with championship finals in all divisions. At the end of the year, the Hearst Foundation totals the points earned by each school and releases a ranking.

KU is currently eighth in the overall standings in the contest. Final standings will be released in April.