by Maria Driscoll

For the fourth consecutive year, students in the Journalism program at Holland College have walked away with top honours in their category at the Atlantic Journalism Awards in Halifax.

Julie Veinot of New Germany, N.S., was named winner of the Moosehead Breweries Achievement Award and Stacey Colwell of Bridgewater, N.S., took the Atlantic Lottery Corporation Achievement Award during the May 4 awards banquet.

The Holland College students competed against students in journalism programs at community colleges in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland. Selected by a panel of journalists, they were cited for their initiative, maturity, creativity and professionalism. Each award carries a $250 cash prize.

Instructors Rick MacLean and Wayne Young said the student successes at the AJs speaks well for the calibre of applicants coming into the program and for the training they receive while they're here.

"We're continually trying to improve the program, to stay in tune with the needs of the industry and I think this shows we're on the right track," MacLean said.

Colwell is working at the Bridgewater Bulletin, a community newspaper in Bridgewater, N.S. During the program, he completed successful internships at the Halifax Daily News (sports reporter) and at the Bulletin. Last summer, he wrote for Baseball P.E.I., penning a weekly column published in The Guardian in Charlottetown.

Veinot has completed internships at the Lunenburg Progress Enterprise, a community newspaper in Lunenburg, N.S., and at the Truro Daily News in Truro, N.S. A story she wrote on irritable bowel syndrome was judged the top entry in the Class of 2002, a 28-page tabloid published in The Journal-Pioneer in Summerside. The article was also published in the New Brunswick Reader, a supplement to the Telegraph Journal in Saint John, N.B.

Veinot and Colwell will graduate with nine classmates in Charlottetown June 2. The two-year program has 30 students.