StateCollege.com Columnist Russell Frank Wins Best in Journalism Award

The Society of Professional Journalists Keystone Pro Chapter recently honored columnist Russell Frank for his work published in 2020 on StateCollege.com.

Frank won first place for the column writing — non-daily category in the chapter’s 2021 Best in Journalism contest.

Three of Frank’s StateCollege.com columns were reviewed by the contest judges. Each was a dispatch from Greece, where he spent most of the 2019-2020 academic year as a Fulbright scholar.

– On the Waterfront, a Mysterious Fate; 

– Hakuna Matata in Thessaloniki; 

– The Names of the Lost

Judges’ comments included in the awards announcement stated, “Interesting dispatches from Greece – well-observed and well-written. Good work!”

The contest is open to journalists in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Frank is an associate professor of journalism in Penn State’s Bellisario College of Communications, where he has been on faculty since 1998. He was previously a newspaper reporter, editor and columnist in California and Pennsylvania. 

In 2017, Penn State University Press published the collection of Frank’s columns and essays, “Among the Woo People: A Survival Guide for Living in a College Town.”

He also has a Ph.D. in folkore from the University of Pennsylvania and in 2011 authored the book “Newslore: Contemporary Folklore on the Internet,” published by University Press of Mississippi.

Frank’s columns appear every other Wednesday on StateCollege.com. Read his past work at statecollege.com/author/russell-frank.