Team leader Jordan Tichenor featured as Hearst Journalism Award winner

Written by Y2 student Ankita Bhanot

Jordan Tichenor, a journalist and student in his last year at the University of Oregon, recently won a Hearst Journalism Award for his work on the multimedia project titled “Rogue Territory.” Tichenor, in a team of six other students, received fifth place out of 105 undergraduate journalism programs at universities across the country. Tichenor’s project investigated Josephine County, an area in rural southern Oregon, where there is little to no funding for public safety programs such as fire and police services.

Over the course of several months, Tichenor and his team made trips to Josephine County to interview residents, commissioners, and the local police. The project exposed shocking statistics, such as the fact that there are only three patrol officers in the whole county for over 53,000 people. Interviews, research and videos for the project were documented and displayed on its website, rogueterritory.org. The website, which skillfully combined photos, videos, and stories from the county, made for a successful project that won Tichenor and his team the prestigious award.

Tichenor said, “The hardest part of this project was figuring out how to tell such a big story in a way that would be really concise. It was extremely interesting to visit the city and see how the people were reacting to what seemed to be such a dire situation.”