WSU Student Wins National Broadcasting Honor

PULLMAN, Wash. – Monique Dugaw, a senior broadcast major in the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication at Washington State University, has won high honors from American Women in Radio & Television (AWRT).

It was announced this week that Dugaw, a senior communication major from Olympia, Wash., is the winner of the Gracie Award for Outstanding Interview Program for her report “Credit Card Debt: A Student’s Perspective.”

Dugaw plans to be in New York City on June 19 to attend the Gracie Awards luncheon at the Tavern on the Green.

“Attending this event is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I wouldn’t miss it,” Dugaw said. “I’ll be bringing my mom and my grandma because they have both been such powerful influences in supporting my goals and achievements. I want to share this experience with the two strongest women I know,” she said.

“I’m very pleased to hear about Monique’s Gracie Award,” said Mark Wright, a Murrow School alumnus and evening anchor of Q13 news in Seattle. “I think it’s a credit not only to her but to the Murrow School of Communication, which consistently turns out some of the most well-prepared television journalists in the country,” he said.

“Monique’s story on student debt was very solid,” said Wright, who was a mentor to Dugaw as part of a Murrow School/Q13 partnership to provide students the chance to work on news stories in the atmosphere of a commercial TV station. Dugaw’s project at Q13 was the piece for which she is being honored by AWRT.

“Monique invests a lot of effort in all of her stories by researching her topics thoroughly and following up on leads,” said Marvin Marcelo, assistant professor of broadcast communication in the Murrow School. “She has a great sense of timing and storytelling. We hope that when our students go out for jobs, they will be able to show future employers that they can successfully do the job from start to finish beginning day one,” said Marcelo.

This marks the second consecutive year a Murrow School student has been honored by AWRT. Cristina E. Romento and Rachel Padget, both seniors, were named co-winners of the 2006 Gracie Award for Outstanding Feature—Soft News. Romento is a senior broadcast news and production major from Vancouver, Wash. Padget is a senior broadcast news major from Nampa, Idaho.

Dugaw, a graduate of Capital High School in Olympia, Wash., has previously done an internship at KHQ-TV (Q6, NBC) in Spokane, Wash. At WSU, Dugaw is president and general manager of Cable 8 Productions, a student-run operation run and staffed similarly to a commercial TV station.


Monique Dugaw and Q13 News evening anchor Mark Wright