SABEW's Best in Business winner again a UNC J-school student

Sarah Frier, a May 2011 graduate of the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media, is the student business journalism winner in the annual Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) Best in Business (BIB) contest. It is the fifth time in the past seven years that a UNC business journalism student has won the award.

Frier, last year's editor of The Daily Tar Heel, UNC's student newspaper, now works for Bloomberg News in New York.

She won the SABEW contest for a story she wrote last summer called "Jefferson County Agony Means Higher Borrowing Costs for Alabama Taxpayers" while interning at Bloomberg. With Jefferson County, Ala., teetering near bankruptcy, Frier discovered, through data analysis, that its financial problems were negatively affecting other local governments in the state. She then interviewed local government leaders, bond analysts and a lead underwriter in the state to explain what was happening.

Two other UNC students received honorable mentions this year. Daniel Wiser was recognized for a story he wrote in The Daily Tar Heel, and Tarini Parti was recognized for a story she wrote for OpenSecrets.org.

In 2004, the first-place BIB winners were UNC students John Frank and Emily Steel for a story they wrote for The Daily Tar Heel. In 2005, the first place BIB winner was Steel for a story she wrote for The St. Petersburg Times. In 2006, UNC student Amy Thomson was the honorable mention recipient for a story she wrote while interning at Bloomberg News. In 2007, the student BIB winner was UNC student Daniel Johnson, for a story that was part of his master’s thesis and later appeared in the Seattle Times. In 2008, the BIB winners were UNC students Laura Marcinek and Cartarina Saraiva. Marcinek won in the student publication category, while Saraiva won in the professional publication category. In 2009, the UNC winners were Andrew Dunn in the professional publication category for a story he wrote for the Charlotte Observer while interning there and Matt Lynley in the student publication category for a Daily Tar Heel article.

Students from Arizona State and Missouri won in 2010.

Steel is now social media editor for The Wall Street Journal. Thomson, Marcinek and Saraiva are all with Bloomberg. Dunn covers banking for the Charlotte Observer, and Lynley covers tech news for BusinessInsider.com out of New York.