J-school senior wins business journalism contest
February 22, 2013
Melvin Backman, a senior business journalism major from Charleston, S.C., is the student business journalism winner in the annual Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) Best in Business contest.
It is the seventh time in the past nine years that a UNC business journalism student has won the student award.
Backman won for a story he wrote for The Daily Tar Heel about the UNC football team’s financing and its Nike contract.
He will intern this summer at The Wall Street Journal. Last summer, he interned on the Reuters corporate finance desk in New York.
Previous winners include:
- 2011: Sarah Frier
- 2009: Andrew Dunn, professional publication category; Matt Lynley, student publication category
- 2008: Laura Marcinek, student publication category; Cartarina Saraiva, professional publication category
- 2007: Daniel Johnson
- 2006: Amy Thomson, honorable mention
- 2005: Emily Steel
- 2004: John Frank and Emily Steel