Mackenzie Miller ’21 wins Indianapolis Press Club award

Mackenzie Miller, who graduates from Goshen College this spring with majors in journalism and English, received the Indianapolis Press Club Foundation scholarship for deadline news coverage.

Miller is the first Goshen College student to receive this highly competitive scholarship. Each year, the Press Club Foundation selects statewide winners in three categories: deadline news, features and sports writing.

The awards are officially named the Last Row Party Scholarships, in recognition of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which sponsors the scholarships.

The awards – in the amounts of $1,031 for deadline news, $1,032 for features and $1,033 for sports writing – mirror the checks distributed to the last row drivers in the Indianapolis 500 (the drivers get checks for 31, 32 and 33 cents).

Each spring, students can submit two samples of their best work in any one of the categories. The Indianapolis Press Club Foundation received 32 entries this year.

Miller shared the deadline news honor with Taylor Wooten of Franklin College; Mary Claire Molloy of Indiana University won for feature writing; and Zach Piatt of Ball State University claimed the sports writing award.

Miller, who is from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, served as executive editor of The Record, the weekly student newspaper, in the fall of 2020. The Indiana Collegiate Press Association last month named The Record “Newspaper of the Year” in the college division.

“Followers of Mackenzie’s work in The Record recognized early on that she is an exceptional journalist,” said Duane Stoltzfus, the faculty adviser to The Record and chair of the communication department. “As she finishes her last college class in May, this statewide award arrives as a lovely grace note.”