Yale Graduate Is Named Winner of Student-Journalism Award From 'The Chronicle'
The Chronicle announced today that it had awarded its first annual David W. Miller Award for Student Journalists to Justin A. Chen, a 2003 graduate of Yale University who is currently a Fulbright fellow in Germany.
The award went to Mr. Chen, 22, for articles that ran in a Yale student publication. Mr. Chen, who lives in McLean, Va., and majored in biochemistry and comparative literature at Yale, has been accepted for admission to the Yale School of Medicine in the fall of 2004. He plans to mix journalism into a medical career.
Interviewed by e-mail in Erlangen, Germany, where he is doing clinical research on the association between lupus and atherosclerosis at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Mr. Chen said he was grateful to win the award.
"I'm even more grateful," he continued, "for the fact that someone out there is trying to encourage the writing of more in-depth expository articles on college campuses."
Mr. Chen won the Miller Award on the strength of two such articles that appeared last year in The Yale Herald. The first article explored how federal legislation passed after the September 11 terrorist attacks has affected international students and student privacy in the United States. The second described how a Yale history professor had become the target of a hate campaign after she criticized American foreign policy.
Among Mr. Chen's goals, he said, is a medical career in which writing "will figure prominently." He added that he sees "a fascinating connection" between medicine and writing, and has paid particular attention to great writers who were also doctors, such as Anton Chekhov and Arthur Schnitzler.
The Miller Award, which carries a $1,000 prize, commemorates David W. Miller, a senior writer at The Chronicle who in 2002 was killed at the age of 35 by a drunken driver.
With the award, The Chronicle is seeking to pay tribute to Mr. Miller's first-rate journalism, insatiable curiosity about people and ideas, and talent and love for great writing. The Chronicle is also hoping to identify and recognize future generations of reporters who show the same promise as Mr. Miller attained.
Nearly 300 students applied for the award, making this inaugural contest exceedingly competitive. The applicants hailed from 44 states, the District of Columbia, and 3 Canadian provinces.
Undergraduates interested in applying for the 2004 award, based on articles published in the current academic year, should watch The Chronicle's Web site for information on when to apply.