Moving on:

Rodd Cayton (Summers 1997 and 1998) is a reporter for the Mohave Valley Daily News in Bullhead City, Ariz. Previously he was a reporter for The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, Calif.

Raven Hill (Summer 1997) is a reporter in Baltimore for The Sun, covering county government. Previously she was seminars coordinator for the Education Writers Association in Washington, D.C.

Leezel Tanglao (Summer 2003) is overnight home page editor for ABCNews.com in New York City. Previously she was online news producer for KCBS2/KCAL9 in Los Angeles. She started her new job this month, immediately after co-chairing the Asian American Journalists Association convention in Los Angeles and attending a Poynter Institute seminar, “Bottom Line News: Creating Sustainable Journalism Start-ups,” in July.

Annette Arreola (Spring 2004) is action news reporter for KTNV (ABC News) in Las Vegas.

Sonia Dasgupta (Summer 2007) is a local editor with Patch.com in the Washington, D.C., area. As the editor for Riverdale Park and University Park, Md., she reports news, generates story ideas and works with freelancers and columnists. Dasgupta graduated this summer from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism with a master’s degree in digital media.

James Wagner (Summer 2007) is a reporter for The Washington Post, covering high school sports. He says, “It’s a wonderful opportunity to cover the expanse of high school athletics in the D.C. area and search for interesting, compelling stories. I’m very excited and grateful.” Previously he was a reporter for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune in California.

Brian Slodysko (Summer 2008), is a Tribune company reporter assigned to cover the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove as part of the company’s “hyper-local” effort to be launched soon. He says, “While many of the details are still being ironed out, basically the Tribune is shifting control of their suburban papers — previously independent operations — to their metro desk.” Previously he was a freelancer for SeattlePi.com, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s online-only replacement, and for SeattleCrime.com.

Adolfo Flores (Summer 2009) is a reporter for Pasadena (Calif.) Star-News, covering cops and government for San Marino, San Gabriel, South Pasadena and Alhambra. Flores graduated in May with a journalism degree and minor in Spanish-language media from California State University, Northridge.

Nicole Norfleet (Spring 2010) is a reporter for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, covering suburban metro news in a two-year apprenticeship position. Previously she was an intern for The Associated Press in Raleigh, N.C.

Marie DeJesus (Summer 2010) is a photographer for Victoria (Texas) Advocate. She was a summer intern at the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle.

Internships:

Ricardo Lopez (Summer 2008) is a summer intern at the Saint Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota.

Convention News and Awards:

Chipsters took home several awards at the 2010 Native American Journalists Association’s Media Awards ceremony during NAJA’s convention in St. Paul, Minn., in July. They are:

Best Editorial Category

• 3rd Place: Tara Manthey (Summer 2000), former editorial board member, Osage News, “Time is of the Essence”

Best Feature Story Categories

• Daily/Weekly: 3rd Place, Jason Begay (Fall 1999 and Summer 2000), reporter, Navajo Times, “Teaching Thick Fingers to Weave”
• Monthly/Bimonthly: 3rd Place, Dana Attocknie (Spring 2004), editor, Cherokee & Arapaho Tribal Tribune, “Living Legends: Katherine Hoffman”

Best News Story Categories

• Daily/Weekly: 3rd Place, Jason Begay, reporter, Navajo Times, “Study Dissects How, Where Tribe Went Wrong with OnSat”
• Monthly/Bimonthly: 2nd Place, Shannon Shaw (Spring 2005), interim editor, Osage News, “Chief Jim Gray Sues Six Members of Congress for Controversial Meeting”

Best Online Category

• Writing (News or Feature): 1st Place, Shannon Shaw, interim editor, Osage News, “Five Members of Congress Meet Behind Locked Doors to Discuss Budgetary Cuts”
• 2nd Place, Benny Polacca (Spring 2006), staff writer, Osage News, “Tribal Members Write Messages on Their Cars to ‘Pass the Budget!’ “

Best Photo Categories

• News: 2nd Place, Leigh T. Jimmie (Summer 2002), photographer, Navajo Times, “Ramp Riders”
• Feature: 1st Place Leigh T. Jimmie, photographer, Navajo Times, “Nature’s Bounty”
• Sports: 3rd Place Leigh T. Jimmie, photographer, Navajo Times, “First Jump”

Best Sports Story Categories

• Daily/Weekly: 1st Place, Sunnie Redhouse (Summer 2006), sports writer, Navajo Times, “Alone on the Course; April 23 Issue”

Best Television Story Categories

• News: 3rd Place, William Craig Henry (Spring 2007), multimedia producer, Cherokee Phoenix, “Red Clay Reunites Cherokees”
• Feature: 1st Place, William Craig Henry, multimedia producer, Cherokee Phoenix, “Cherokee Girl Well-Trained in ‘Sweet Science’ “

College Student Categories

• Online News Site: 1st Place, Tetona Dunlap (Spring 2005), Student, “SOZO Movement”

General Excellence Categories

• Monthly/Bimonthly: 2nd Place, Osage News - Shannon Shaw, interim editor
• Website: 1st Place, Cherokee Phoenix - www.cherokeephoenix.org - William Craig Henry, multimedia producer

While at the Asian American Journalists Association in Los Angeles in August, Lianne Milton (Spring 2003) was awarded AAJA’s 2010 National Journalism Awards for Photography for her project on post-tsunami recovery in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Chipsters attending AAJA served as panelists, speakers and mentors. They included Wasim Ahmad (Summer 2003), assistant professor, school of journalism, Stonybrook University; Meena Thiruvengadam (Summer 2003), business reporter, Dow Jones Newswires; and Leezel Tanglao (Summer 2003). Marian Liu (Spring 2001), reporter for The Seattle Times, was the 2010 convention news project director, while professional mentors included Adam Kealoha Causey (Spring 2006), reporter, The Times in Shreveport, La., and Mariecar Mendoza (Spring 2007), reporter, The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif.

Diego James Robles (Summer 2008), photographer for The Denver Post, won second place in the Hearst Foundation photo championship in New York City. He says, “I originally won first place in Sports/News category to make the championship shootout.” Also, Robles was accepted at the Eddie Adams Workshop in New York.

Fellowships

Yun Long (Summer 2005), copy editor for the Reno Gazette-Journal, attended the Maynard Institute Multimedia Editing Program at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Other News:

Kristopher Brooks (Summer 2006) is pursuing a master’s degree in literary journalism at New York University. Previously he was a reporter for the Omaha World-Herald.

Vannah Shaw (Summer 2007) is pursuing a law degree at Regent University in Portsmouth, Va.

Kelly McLain (Summer 2008) graduated in May with a master’s degree in English from the University of Alaska.

Ashley Marchand (Spring 2010) is a staff writer for the Advisory Board Company in Washington, D.C., for Health Line Group publications. Previously she was an intern at The Chronicle of Higher Education in Washington, D.C.

Babies…

Grace Uy Fregeau (Summer 1998) and husband John welcomed their first child, son Lee, in November 2009 in Santa Barbara, Calif. The family moved this month to the Washington, D.C., area for John’s work. She says, “I’m heading into my third year of full-time freelance/contract writing and editing and am continuing to build my client list.”

Keep your news coming. Send updates to Michelle Hedenskoog.