Category: Special Features

Q&A with the 2021 Doug Damerst Scholarship Recipient, Sabrina Salovitz

staff report, Florida Magazine Association
July 23, 2021

The Florida Magazine Association honors the life and career of Doug Damerst by awarding a $1,000 cash prize to an exceptional student majoring in the field of journalism/communications. During his 10 years as the editor-in-chief of Florida Realtor magazine for the Florida Association of Realtors, Damerst set an award-winning standard for the Orlando-based publication—a standard he held until his passing in 2014.

Sabrina Salovitz, 2021 Doug Damerst Scholarship Recipient

The winner of the 2021 Doug Damerst scholarship is Sabrina Salovitz. Salovitz is a junior at Florida Gulf Coast University pursuing a major in journalism with minors in interdisciplinary studies and political science. She is the Editor-in-Chief for her university paper, Eagle News, and has been published in her hometown paper, The Port Charlotte Sun.

What inspired you to pursue journalism/communications as a career?

I fell in love with journalism in high school while taking a Television Production class. We produced a little daily show called Pirate TV that covered upcoming events and announcements and even had a section on the lunch specials. I have always been a writer, but it was in that class that I first began to imagine myself as a reporter. I loved going out and searching for stories and watching my segments air; I had always enjoyed watching the news, but suddenly I wanted to be a part of it too.

What are your professors telling you about the future of our industry?

Journalism is changing, and it will be up to us and the generations that come afterwards to create a new path forward. Each of my professors has lamented the decline of the industry, and I think we all worry about a future without journalism. It is the hard work and dedication of small town and student journalists, as well as big-city reporters keeping the industry alive.

Which interviews/stories have had the most impact on you so far?

I wrote a story on a student government controversy last spring, and it was some of the most intensive reporting I’ve ever done. There were comments made by SG senators during a bill proposal that sparked a student protest. From breaking the story at midnight a few days before to covering the protest to attending the Senate meeting, I was chasing that lead from early morning until I finally crawled back to my dorm at the end of the night. I had pages of notes and dozens of recordings, and I still had an article to write. I don’t think any story has ever been more work, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

What jobs do you want to pursue after graduating?

I want to be a political journalist who works in broadcasting. I am considering attending graduate school, but I’m also open to working in the industry for the next few years to build my experience.

What’s the best advice you’ve received so far about being a writer/reporter?

During my first semester in college, Glenn Miller, one of my lecturers, quoted a famous line from Ernest Hemingway: “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein.” Writing has always been a lot like bleeding for me; creating a good article hurts. It is hard work, and it’s draining, but maybe everything that matters should be painful.

What would be your dream assignment?

My dream assignment is a protest, a political campaign, a scandal. The best assignments require the transformation of chaos into a clear narrative, and the best stories depend on their subjects. When people care about something enough to raise their voices and call out for change, to organize a march, to run for office- well that’s a story just begging to be written.

Q&A with the 2020 Doug Damerst Scholarship Recipient, April Rubin

staff report, Florida Magazine Association
July 8, 2020

The Florida Magazine Association honors the life and career of Doug Damerst by awarding a $1,000 cash prize to an exceptional student majoring in the field of journalism/communications. During his 10 years as the editor-in-chief of Florida Realtor magazine for the Florida Association of Realtors, Damerst set an award-winning standard for the Orlando-based publication—a standard he held until his passing in 2014.

April Rubin, 2020 Doug Damerst Scholarship Recipient

The winner of the 2020 Doug Damerst scholarship is April Rubin, a rising junior at the University of Florida pursuing a major in journalism and minors in anthropology and Latin American studies. She is from Miami, Florida, and this summer she is an intern at her hometown newspaper, The Miami Herald, as a general assignment reporter. She will also participate in the National Association of Hispanic Journalists student project. In Gainesville, she has reported and edited for student newspaper the Independent Florida Alligator, NPR/PBS affiliate WUFT News, and the Gainesville Sun. She is grateful for the support from the Florida Magazine Association.

Here, Rubin discusses what inspires her to be a journalist and how she hopes to carry on Damerst’s trademark high-level journalism and ethics.

What inspired you to pursue journalism/communications as a career?
I have always loved connecting with others and telling stories, but I didn’t realize where that would take me as a career until I started college. I declared my major as journalism when I applied because the communications industry interested me, but as soon as I started getting experience, I realized it was the perfect fit for me. I love that I get to learn something new every day while teaching others. I am interested in giving all voices a platform, bringing accountability to those in power and making information accessible.

What are your professors telling you about the future of our industry?
My professors have told me that the industry is becoming more and more challenging to be part of, but that it is just as important as ever. Every year they teach, fewer journalism majors actually want to be journalists. But they have hope in those of us who do. I have never felt discouraged by a University of Florida professor – although they recognize that the future of the industry seems bleak, they also tell me that they have faith in my ability as a reporter.

Which interviews/stories have had the most impact on you so far?
I enjoy reporting stories in which I can connect with people. One of the first longer stories I did for the Independent Florida Alligator, my school newspaper, was the first time I felt this. I wrote about the African American studies program’s transition to department status and what this meant for students and faculty. There were some who had been waiting for a change like this for decades. More recently, I have written profiles for the Miami Herald that impacted me similarly. They were about a WWII veteran near Memorial Day, a 100-year-old Holocaust survivor on her birthday and a local Black muralist during the Black Lives Matter protests. Getting to connect with sources and their stories is part of what brings me to journalism.

What jobs do you want to pursue after graduating?
After graduating, I hope to be a reporter for a newspaper or digital publication. The beats that interest me right now are education, politics and community topics. I am drawn to these because they mix human-interest topics with policy both at a local and national level.

What’s the best advice you’ve received so far about being a writer/reporter?
One of my professors told me that no assignment is too small for me to write. He said that some of the best stories come out of assignments that seem mundane, and I should put as much effort into those as I would others.

What would be your dream assignment?
My dream assignment aligns my passion for storytelling, learning about people and travel. While I don’t have a specific pitch, I think that it would be a great experience to showcase the ways different people do one thing around the world. It would be interesting to see how something such as a religious ritual or a food tradition can tie people across the world together while having differences between the specifics.

 

Recent Work from FMA Members

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The members of the Florida Magazine Association represent a wealth of creative talent. Every year after the annual conference, members consistently tell us how inspiring it is to see the great work their peers throughout the state have been creating. With that in mind, we thought a year is way too long to wait. So here are a few examples of recent work from our members. (more…)

The Death of the Death of Print

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Publishers know that even in the digital age, readers of all ages and demographics are strong believers in print magazines. Advertisers, on the other hand, still have a perception that online content is king. (more…)