College of the Ozarks senior Abigail Johnson awarded the prestigious Walter Cronkite Scholarship

POINT LOOKOUT, MO. —College of the Ozarks senior Abigail Johnson has been awarded the prestigious Walter Cronkite Scholarship by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Mid-America Chapter. She is a journalism major and a student photojournalist in the College’s award-winning “The Point” Newsroom work station.

The board of Mid-America NATAS (the “Emmy People”) celebrates innovation and integrity across all platforms of visual media and is dedicated to advancing careers and promoting educational opportunities in Mid-America for the next generation. The purpose of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Student Production Awards is to recognize outstanding student achievement in production by conferring awards of merit in the Chapter’s designated awards region. The presentation of these awards is intended to be an incentive for the continued pursuit of excellence by those studying media and journalism and to focus public attention on outstanding cultural, educational, technological, entertainment, news and informational achievements by undergraduate college and/or high school students.

Walter Cronkite Scholarships, named for the eminent journalist once called “the most trusted man in America,” are merit-based and are awarded annually to qualified college undergraduates pursuing a career in the media industry and who demonstrate the potential to join the profession and contribute to its future. 

The Walter Cronkite Scholarship is open to broadcast journalism applicants. College undergraduates, as well as high school seniors in a school in the Mid-America region who have an interest in media studies and have been accepted at a college as a media, journalism, or mass communication major are eligible to apply.

Johnson was the sole recipient of the scholarship this year in the NATAS Mid-America region, which includes Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana.

Johnson has worked as a reporter, anchor, photographer, and editor at “The Point” and has earned two previous awards from the Mid-America National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. "The Point" is the College's award-winning student news-producing workstation and the name of its award-winning student newscast. Her story, “Icon Artists,” won first place in the “College Arts/Entertainment/Cultural Affairs Reporting” category, and she shared a first-place award for “The Point: Christmas Edition” in the “College News Magazine” category.

Her journalistic work has also won three awards from the Missouri Broadcast Educators Association.

“Abigail exemplifies what you hope to see in a journalist,” said Erin Hayes, professor of the practice of journalism and Johnson’s supervisor at “The Point”. “She is truth-seeking and truth-centered, and she strives to do her best no matter the task. She is also a leader who can always be counted on to help her colleagues in our student newsroom.”

“Sharing truth with others accurately and objectively is the goal of all good journalism,” Johnson said. “I am honored to be a recipient of this scholarship.”