Florida FlyIns is the nickname for a University of Florida course in special projects journalism. The class is open to advanced graduate and undergraduate photographers and writers and is entitled "Advanced Journalism Practicum: Latin America in Words and Pictures."
More formally known as the St. Petersburg Times International Journalism Practicum, the program was co-founded by Professor John Kaplan and Professor Emeritus Kurt Kent and is taught each fall by professor Kaplan. It seeks to bring together writers and photographers to learn about the principles and techniques of international journalism. It is hoped that in time the program may be expanded to other parts of the world as well.
In the field, student photographers and writers spend one week working in teams to document life in Latin America. In addition to the selection of student work presented in this book, we proudly display our international projects in an award-winning online magazine, www.internationaljournalism.com. Each December, we also produce a photography and writing exhibition that is open to the public. Additionally, students are encouraged to seek out freelance venues for publishing their stories.
During the first half of the semester, students learn advanced story research techniques and choose possible story ideas for their fieldwork. Guest lecturers visit our weekly class and share their expertise. After an October visit to Latin America, each student produces a story in either words or pictures for publication. Our online web magazine is design is led by Professor Kaplan and produced with the assistance of students serving as editing and production staff. This year’s site was produced and designed by Danny Ghitis.
Our 2003 writing and coaches included Assistant Professor Ted Spiker, former CNN correspondent and current UF News and Public Affairs Director Ronnie Lovler, and our college’s Communication Director Boaz Dvir. Our 2003 writing and audio coaches included Professors Kevin Allen, Kim Walsh-Childers, Ted Spiker and Leonard Tipton. In previous years, faculty writing coaches have also included Professors Julie Dodd and Kurt Kent. In the field we have been fortunate to have extra coaching assistance on site including Ronnie Lovler, Boaz Dvir, and Joe Weiss of MSNBC who joined the team as the 2002 multimedia coach in Peru. The result was a first-place national website award in the National Press Photographers Association’s Best of Photojournalism competition.
The Florida FlyIns program has won several major honors:
The Best of Photojournalism
In 2003, the Florida FlyIns website, www.internationaljournalism.com, placed first in the nation in the international Best of Photojournalism competition, the only award that went to a student-affiliated website. The Best of Photojournalism competition attracted more than 27,000 total entries in the photo, editing and web divisions. In the web division, there were just six first-place awards. In addition to UF’s top prize for Feature Story, the other first place winners were the New York Times, Washington Post and Rochester (NY) Democrat-Chronicle. The judges commented, "The fact that the site was the work of students and faculty is inspiring. . . ." They also said the stories were "refreshing and "exhibited strong photography." The FlyIns site also won an honorable mention in the Best Multimedia Package category.
William Randolph Hearst Photojournalism Championship
In 2001 and 2002, student work from Costa Rica and Belize contributed to UF’s winning its first-ever national collegiate photojournalism championships. The Hearst Awards have been called the Pulitzer Prizes of college journalism.
AEJMC Best of the Web
In 2002, the FlyIns website was named best in the nation for Journalism Sites in the annual Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Best of the Web competition. Students Amy Zerba, Beth Nabi and Dave Cone contributed to the award. In 2004, the FlyIns website was again recognized by AEJMC, with design by John Kaplan and multimedia assistance from Kevin Allen and Craig Lee.
Florida Magazine Association
In 2001, the Florida Magazine Association gave FlyIns stories from Costa Rica its top prize for in-depth reporting, The Charlie Award. Student writing and photography contributed to the award, as published in the University of Florida magazine, Today. It is rare for student work to place in this professional competition, let alone to be named a Charlie-winner.
