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K-State Today

February 2, 2017

K-State journalism student wins scholarship in biotechnology reporting contest

Submitted by Tom Hallaq

Safiya Woodard is pictured on the far right along with other Biotech U. attendees

Safiya Woodard, senior in mass communications at K-State, won the grand prize in the 2016 Biotech University reporting contest, a $2,500 academic scholarship.

Woodard's winning entry was a video documentary, "The Evolution of Biotechnology in Agriculture."

Winners of a $1,500 academic scholarship were Kelly van Frankenhuyzen, a graduate student at Michigan State University, and Olivia Richard, a junior at Arizona State University.

The reporting contest was part of the 2016 Biotech University seminar in October 2016 at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications, and Biodesign Institute. Biotech University is a one-day seminar designed to introduce college journalism students to the emerging science of biotechnology.

Forty-one journalism students attended Biotech University, including 20 from Arizona State University. Twenty-one students from colleges and universities across the country, sponsored by Qualified State Soybean Boards, also attended. In addition, five working journalists attended.

The event was sponsored by the United Soybean Board and co-sponsored by the National Corn Growers Association, the Arizona Farm Bureau, and Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute.

At the seminar, experts on biotechnology explained the science, debated pros and cons, and discussed the scientific, business, and political issues surrounding the topic.