Sarah Wood
“I am pleased to annouce that Sarah Wood is the recipient of the first annual Florida Press Club Scholarship at the University of Florida,” Florida Press Club President Stephanie Slater said Tuesday.
Wood, 21, is a senior at the university’s College of Journalism & Communications, majoring in print journalism. She is also president of the school’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
“I started writitng fiction books and entering writing contests when I was in elementary school,” Wood said. “I was a weird kid…I always liked to research papers.”
Wood said she knew journalism was her career choice after interviewing Subway spokesman Jared Fogle for the Independent Florida Alligator, UF’s student newspaper. “Talking to a national icon and having PR people buzz around my tape recorder created a massive feeling of enthusiam,” Wood wrote in her scholarship essay. “This thrill propelled me deeper into reporting. I started to ask more questions and strove to find more sources. I researched, interviewed and observed. Then, I wrote. For the first time, I felt like a professional journalist.”
Wood is spending the summer freelancing for the Daily Commercial. This fall she’ll intern in the features department at the Gainesville Sun. She has previously written for INsite Magazine in Gainesville and the North Lake Outpost.
Wood, a resident of Eustis, said she plans to use the scholarship money to pay for books and housing her senior year. She looks forward to an “exciting” career in journalism. Wood will join Florida Press Club members for the 2004 Excellence in Journalism Awards banquet Oct. 23 at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg.