Emily Vespa wins Student Media’s Dean Phillips Award

Emily Vespa is the recipient of the Dean Phillips Award for General Excellence for the 2023-2024 academic year. This is the top award for Student Media for students who show intrepidity and passion for student journalism.

The award was announced at the NC State Student Media Board of Directors meeting on April 9. 

Vespa, a fourth-year student studying English, has served as managing editor of Technician, and covered major stories affecting the campus community, including the closure of Poe Hall, and the ongoing response to student mental health. 

At the heart of her reporting, Vespa utilized public records to illuminate context and details that normally would not be known by the public. 

“Emily has been nothing short of transformative to Technician’s news coverage this year,” Jameson Wolf, Technician co-editor-in-chief, wrote in her nomination for Vespa. “Not only has she held herself to a high standard of mission-driven accuracy and journalistic ethics, she has also shown great leadership in encouraging other staff members to do the same.”

Technician participated in the Mental Health Collaborative, a student journalistic initiative led by The Daily Tar Heel. Vespa joined with DTH editor-in-chief Emmy Martin to write about how NC State and UNC-Chapel Hill respond to student deaths. 

The Raleigh News & Observer reprinted that story, as an effort to highlight student journalism and mental health on college campuses.

“Emily is relentless in her quest to provide accurate and balanced journalism in a timely manner,” Wolf said. “I can confidently say Technician would not be where it is today without her hard work and dedication over the past academic year and before.” 

Vespa will receive a $250 award from the Student Media Enhancement Fund and her name will be placed on a perpetual plaque hung in a place of honor on the third floor of Witherspoon Student Center.

Named for a long-time NC State Student Media Board of Directors member, the Phillips Award is open to all Student Media students except its senior leaders, who vote on the eventual winner as ex-officio members of the board. Now in the award’s third year, Vespa joins Agromeck’s Jermaine Hudson and Windhover’s Emma Carter as recipients.

Dean Phillips, who continues to serve on the board since joining it as a charter member in 2007, is a multi-award-winning Senior Lecturer Emeritus from the NC State Department of Communication.