Bryce Zabel '76, visited the School in the fall to talk with students about screenwriting and the business side of Hollywood. Zabel wrote the screenplay for "Moralt Kombat Annihilation," which premiered after his visit. His previous work includes creating "Dark Skies" and writing for "Lois and Clark" and "L.A. Law." He is now working on four pilots for television.

Kathleen Holt, '97, recently was named a winner in the "Virgin Fiction Contest" for nationally unpublished writers under 35. The contest was sponsored by Salon Magazine and William Morrow Books. Holt, an assistant editor at the university's Oregon Quarterly, is one of 20 winners whose short stories will be published this summer in an anthology by Rob Weisbach Books. Holt was the only writer from the Northwest. Three-fourths of the 750 contestants were from New York and California. Holt also won $500 for her story, "Collecting the Dead." The main character works for a research company that catalogs obituaries. The story deals with universal themes like death, love, hope and faith. Holt specialized in magazine journalism at the School.

Flux contributors Patti Wentz, '97, received a second-place award and Joel Gorthy, '98, received a ninth-place award in the Hearst Journalism Awards In-Depth Writing Competition. Both received Certificates of Special Merit for articles in the 1997 issue of FLUX. Wentz received $1,500, and Gorthy received $500. Late in 1997, Kendra Smith, '97, and Michael Schmierbach, '98, received Certificates of Special Merit in the Hearst Feature Writing and Editorial competitions, respectively. Both received $500 prizes. Professor Tom Wheeler, the School's Hearst Competition coordinator, deserves applause for encouraging students to enter and for coordinating the entries.

Jay Phua, '99, has been awarded a Direct Marketing Educational Foundation fellowship to Chicago this March. DMEF pays for all tuition, hotel accommodations, food, and travel during the five-day trip. Phua follows a growing list of SOJC students who have won a very competitive DMEF fellowship.

Four UO students placed in district judging for the 1997 Promotional Products College Education Foundation's National Collegiate Competition -- a competition UO has never entered before. Taking third place in the District 2 competition was a team made up of Rose Soll, '98, Katie O'Herron, '97, Denise Scavera, '98, and Andrew Mitchell, '98. The students' project involved a year-long effort combining trade publication advertising, direct mail and trade show promotions. The proposed campaign was based on the theme "Fruit of the Loom has the product and service opportunities to help Promotional Product Distributors succeed."