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April 29, 2009

Editor of UT Campus Paper Named Among Top College Journalists

The Minaret

Peter Arrabal, a University of Tampa senior and editor of the campus newspaper The Minaret, was recently named to the UWIRE 100, a list of the top 100 college journalists in the country.

Arrabal, a biology major and journalism minor from Ellicott City, Md., also recently won UT's Ernie Pyle Award for Journalism Excellence, and last year was recognized with the O'Connor Editor's Award and Journalism Student of the Year.

Also last year, Arrabal won a third place for best feature writing in the Florida College Press Association’s (FCPA) 2007 Better Newspaper Contest. Under his leadership, The Minaret was named the best college newspaper in the FCPA’s 2008 contest, and The Minaret Online finished seventh in a national contest of university newspaper Web sites at the Associated Collegiate Press awards.

Charles McKenzie, UT instructor in English and writing and adviser to The Minaret, said Arrabal is “an investigator out to leave the university community a bit better than he found it.” Arrabal also freelanced for the St. Petersburg Times, TheBaltimore Sun and the Orlando Sentinel.

The UWIRE 100 were selected from more than 825 nominations, representing students from more than 135 schools. The UWIRE 100 students hail from 69 different schools, ranging from small liberal arts colleges to large state universities.

“This is a remarkable group of journalists,” said Joe Weasel, CEO of UWIRE. “Each has made a significant impact on the field already. They are talented, hard workers and gifted storytellers. Each was nominated by their peers and advisers, who recognized their potential to shape the ever-changing media industry in the coming years.”

UWIRE is operated by Palestra.net, an online network of student multimedia reporters on more than 100 college campuses. A full list of the UWIRE 100 is available at www.uwire100.com