Andrea León
Andrea León, 21, majoring in creative writing, won a Region 1 Mark of Excellence Award for her article, What Sweeps Through the Big Apple Sweeps Through Hunter-CUNY, the first in a series about preparations at Hunter-CUNY for that irascible flu (still out there but not getting any news media attention). León is the third WORD writer in about five years to win a Mark of Excellence Award.
The Hunter junior, who works to pay her way through college, speaks and writes fluent Spanish. Her and other reporters fluent in languages other than English were encouraged to use those skills as they fanned out across the New York City CUNY campus to interview students during the height of the crisis. Most of the interviewed students said news media sensationalism had desensitized them about the H1N1 threat.
Tags: Hunter, Mark of Excellence Award, SPJ, SPJ Region 1, the WORD at Hunter