Jim Virga, a prolific storyteller, producer and director of Beyond Assignment, and Ed Talavera, an award-winning cinematographer, traveled with each of the photojournalists, Adriana Zehbrauskas, Gail Tibbon, and Mariella Furrer to Mexico, Israel, and South Africa, respectfully, focusing not only on their photographic work, but also what drives them through their journeys as photographers.

"We spent about a week with each, so what the viewer gets is a slice of life of these photojournalists," said Virga. "Hopefully the viewer is able to see how dedicated they are, and how much they give of themselves."

The documentary also reveals the emotional cost on journalists and their subjects when reporting on underexposed and tense issues, especially in ethically-challenging and sensitive situations.

"This is as close as it gets to doing the real thing, Virga leads us through their work, their subjects and their lives," noted Maggie Steber, an internationally-known documentary photographer and visiting lecturer at the SoC. "Through these women we learn lessons of how to see, what is important in storytelling, and fine examples of commitment to their subjects." Other SoC faculty members involved with Beyond Assignment include Dia Kontaxis, director of the Motion Picture Program, who served as the film's editor, Jeffrey Stern who worked as the film's sound editor and Electronic Media professor Sanjeev Chatterjee, who served as the executive producer.

Talavera and Virga have collaborated on several projects over the years. Talavera said he had his hands full during this shoot.

"What was challenging was trying to create images that mirrored the 'look' of the work of the photojournalist we were exploring," he explained.

But filming in three different countries provided much inspiration.

"If I had to pick a favorite, I would say Israel because it is so visually rich with all the religious imagery," Talavera said.

Virga credits much of Beyond Assignment's support to the Knight Center for International Media at the School of Communication and for providing them with such a memorable experience.

"It was a real pleasure to spend time with these top professionals and see them work," Virga said. "There were some intense moments, but that's just the nature of the business."

For more on the film and future screenings, visit http://beyondassignment.org.

Jim Virga, a prolific storyteller, producer and director of Beyond Assignment, and Ed Talavera, an award-winning cinematographer, traveled with each of the photojournalists, Adriana Zehbrauskas, Gail Tibbon, and Mariella Furrer to Mexico, Israel, and South Africa, respectfully, focusing not only on their photographic work, but also what drives them through their journeys as photographers.

Portions of Beyond Assignment were screened to School of Communication faculty and students during a Brown Bag Session this past fall where Virga talked about the making of the film and working with the three women photographers.

"We spent about a week with each, so what the viewer gets is a slice of life of these photojournalists," said Virga. "Hopefully the viewer is able to see how dedicated they are, and how much they give of themselves."

The documentary also reveals the emotional cost on journalists and their subjects when reporting on underexposed and tense issues, especially in ethically-challenging and sensitive situations.

"This is as close as it gets to doing the real thing, Virga leads us through their work, their subjects and their lives," noted Maggie Steber, an internationally-known documentary photographer and visiting lecturer at the SoC. "Through these women we learn lessons of how to see, what is important in storytelling, and fine examples of commitment to their subjects." ??Other SoC faculty members involved with Beyond Assignment include Dia Kontaxis, director of the Motion Picture Program, who served as the film's editor, Jeffrey Stern who worked as the film's sound editor and Electronic Media professor Sanjeev Chatterjee, who served as the executive producer.

Talavera and Virga have collaborated on several projects over the years. Talavera said he had his hands full during this shoot.

"What was challenging was trying to create images that mirrored the 'look' of the work of the photojournalist we were exploring," he explained.

But filming in three different countries provided much inspiration.

"If I had to pick a favorite, I would say Israel because it is so visually rich with all the religious imagery," Talavera said.

Virga credits much of Beyond Assignment's support to the Knight Center for International Media at the School of Communication and for providing them with such a memorable experience.

"It was a real pleasure to spend time with these top professionals and see them work," Virga said. "There were some intense moments, but that's just the nature of the business."

For more on the film and future screenings, visit http://beyondassignment.org.

At ONA, UM School of Communication alumni, Paul Franz, M.A. ’10 in multimedia journalism, tied for first place in the Online Video Journalism student category for his thesis project, “Haiti’s Lost Children” (http://www.haitiedstories.org/). The project deals with Haiti's struggle to build an education system following the 2010 earthquake.

The Society of Professional Journalists presented the School of Communication, Transitions, a nonprofit, independent online news organization, and UM’s Knight Center for International Media with a Sigma Delta Chi Award and Bronze Medallion in recognition of distinguished service to the American people and the profession of journalism through outstanding accomplishments in Digital Media Presentation for “Colorful But Colorblind: Roma Beyond Stereotypes” (http://roma.glocalstories.org/). The project delves in age-old prejudices about the Roma people by featuring personal insights into the daily lives and struggles. The SPJ competition did not have student categories, and the University of Miami was the only academic institution to win an award this year.

"I am extremely proud of our students and the award-winning work they are producing under the guidance of our exceptional faculty,” said Gregory J. Shepherd, dean of The School of Communication at the University of Miami. “And it is important to note that these awards are for work in new and digital media, as we intend to be a leader in the rapidly changing world of communication."

UM Professor Rich Beckman was “Colorful But Colorblind’s” executive producer, UM Professor Kim Grinfeder, the design director and Daniel Cloud, the programming director. Alumnus Trevor Green and Candace Barbot, an adjunct UM faculty member, also worked on the project as story coaches and trainers in conjunction with 10 multimedia graduate students and 50 journalists from Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

“At the Knight Center we set out to become an epicenter of excellence for compelling multimedia storytelling on global issues and to give voice to the unheard and unseen on underreported issues,” Beckman said. “Our graduate students have embraced these worthy goals and their work continues to bring recognition to the School, the Center and our international partners.”

UM had six finalists competing in three categories at the 2011 ONA Awards. This is the second year in a row that a UM student project has won this prestigious award. In the eight years that student categories have been judged in the competition, 15 projects by Prof. Beckman’s students have been named finalists and this is the fifth to win a top prize.

Launched in 2000, the Online News Association Awards, administered by ONA in partnership with the University of Miami’s School of Communication, are the only comprehensive set of journalism prizes honoring excellence in digital journalism, focusing on independent, community, nonprofit, major media and international news sites.

Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry, works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.

Mariella Furrer, one the of three photojournalists featured in Beyond Assignment, has been working for eight years on a body of work on the subject of child sexual abuse in South Africa. She is currently working on publishing this material as a book entitled My Piece of Sky: Memories of Child Sexual Abuse.

Furrer's book is a testimony to the young children who have survived the experience of rape, and those who have lost their lives to it. It is a book that will visually seize the attention of reader through the use of photography and artwork, and will capture their minds through in-depth interviews, journals, essays and poetry by children who have been abused.

In bringing forth this difficult subject, the book will encourage governments to advocate for effective legislative protection, survivors to provide community understanding, and departments of criminology and psychology to conduct research to enhance academic understanding on the subject of abuse. In the film Beyond Assignment and in her book,Furrer's drive to bring to light the sensitive topic such of child abuse is evident. By exposing the harsh realities of abuse in her home country of South Africa, Furrer hopes to shed light on what can be done to help prevent abuse, assist those who have been abused in finding help and, in the process, save lives in a part of the world where the topic of child abuse is taboo.

Currently, Furrer's project is eligible for funding from Kickstarter.com, an organization that allows project creators to gain funding from independent donations as a means to test out their projects and ideas without financial risk and without losing any rights to their projects. If you would like to learn more about Furrer's project, please visit her Kickstarter page at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1862412233/my-piece-of-sky-memories-of-child-sexual-abuse. To watch the trailer and for more information on Beyond Assignment, please visit http://beyondassignment.org.

My Story, My Goal teamed 14 UM multimedia students with students from seven Knight Center for International Media partner schools in Africa and Asia to tell stories that personalize the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The students' work focuses on issues such as poverty, maternal health, environmental sustainability, universal education, gender equality, HIV/AIDS, and children's health. The website http://mdg.glocalstories.org/ features seven short videos and a compilation documentary.

Another group of multimedia students recently returned from Africa, where they continued working on the project.

My Story, My Goal was co-produced by Professor Rich Beckman, the school's Knight Chair in Visual Journalism, and Tom Kennedy, a former Knight Center Professional-in-Residence. It was produced by UM alumnus Ami Vitale.

The project has received international attention. Last November, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon presented a segment of the project at a G-20 Summit event in South Korea. My Story, My Goal is linked to the U.N. website's Millennium Development Goals section.

"Historically students have led some of the world's great revolutions," said Beckman. "By empowering students to produce local stories that have global impact, we are helping to start a communication revolution. Compelling stories shared through social and online media outlets can motivate change, and we can make a difference in the world one story at a time."

Originally from Patna, Bihar in eastern India, Chatterjee will be working with students at Jadavpur University to create a multimedia website that will bring better public understanding of urban waste utilization and recovery.

The East Kolkata Wetlands are located east of the city of Kolkata and cover about 77 miles that include salt marshes and salt meadows. The wetlands are used to treat Kolkata's sewage, and the nutrients contained in the wastewater sustain fish farms and agriculture that feed surrounding communities. A city of 12 million inhabitants, Kolkata does not have a sewage treatment plant and the wetlands act as its “kidneys,” naturally cleansing the 160 million gallons of urban waste daily. The East Kolkata Wetlands were named a Ramsar site in 2002. The class will interview scientists, fish farmers, neighborhood consumers, government officials and other stakeholders.

“I’m excited about this Fulbright Award because it will allow me to engage with students in a process of discovery in India about a key urban issue,” Chatterjee said. “These students will be learning outside the classroom and will be sharing information on a very important issue.”

Chatterjee embarks to India on July 18.

Chatterjee is no stranger to issues that affect our global environment. During his recent role as director of UM’s Knight Center for International Media, which is committed to producing compelling visual media to solve the world's most difficult issues, he co-directed One Water, an award-winning documentary about water challenge around the globe that was broadcast on the Discovery Networks Planet Green Channel.

The Knight Center also supported Aguas Negras, a multimedia website about wastewater farming in Mexico City that first introduced Chatterjee to this issue and gained his interest to explore it further.

Chatterjee is currently working on One City, a non-verbal short documentary film that explores imminent threats to contemporary cities around the world.

“To have a teacher and filmmaker of Prof. Chatterjee’s stature is going to greatly benefit students of Jadavpur University, which has a strong commitment to environment issues,” says Abhijit Roy, an associate professor of Film Studies at the School of Media, Communication and Culture, Jadavpur University. “Together we will be creating a vibrant inter-disciplinary group of young people who will continue to work beyond this project in the field of multimedia documentation of water issues to meaningfully shape environment policies in India.”

The winner of the 2010 Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism in the Digital Media Presentation (Independent) category is Colorful But Colorblind, by the School of Communication, University of Miami, Transitions and the Knight Center for International Media.

Colorful but Colorblind is a project aimed at remedying anti-Roma stereotyping through the creative use of multimedia in reporting minority issues in new member states of the European Union in Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia) and internationally.

The training and production components of the Colorful but Colorblind project were designed and implemented by Rich Beckman, Professor and Knight Chair in Visual Journalism at the School of Communication at the University of Miami. The project director was Tihomir Loza from Transitions. Trainers included Jim Seida, Senior Producer, MSNBC.com, Candace Barbot, CEO / Founder at Pulp2Pixel Media Inc. and Ben de la Cruz, Emmy Award winning documentary video producer and reporter at The Washington Post. Story coaches included Travis Fox, Emmy Award winning freelance videographer, NYC, Trevor Green, Senior Video Editor & Operations Assistant, Knight Center for International Media, University of Miami and Seida. Kim Grinfeder, Assistant Professor, School of Communication, University of Miami and Daniel Cloud, Senior Programmer, Knight Center for International Media, University of Miami, directed the web design and programming teams.

Ten multimedia graduate students: Danny Bull, Paula Echevarria, Paul Franz, Nick Harbaugh, Charles Ledford, Lauren Malkani, Nick Maslow, Lauren Santa Cruz, Lauren Whiddon and Chi Yang participated in the project.

Other winners in Online Reporting categories included WebMD, Las Vegas Sun, ProPublica, NPR, CNN.com, The Washington Post, Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, Politics Daily, FactCheck.org, The Flint journal and The Bay Citizen/New America Media.

Judges chose the winners from more than 1,400 entries in categories covering print, radio, television and online. The awards recognize outstanding work published or broadcast in 2010.

Dating back to 1932, the awards originally honored six individuals for contributions to journalism. The current program began in 1939, when the Society granted the first Distinguished Service Awards. The honors later became the Sigma Delta Chi Awards.

Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well- informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press.

Knight Center Update My Story My Goal,

Knight Center Update ONA Award,

Knight Center Update Multimedia Journalism Program.