Alumna grabs 2nd place in national Hearst broadcast competition

By Jessica Zech Student Writer Natasha Zouves, a broadcast journalism major who graduated from USC Annenberg in the spring, won second place in the Hearst Foundation's National Television Broadcast News Championship in San Francisco. Zouves was among five finalists who had to complete a package in one day that had to do with the theme technology and privacy. She was awarded $4,000 for her piece about the iPhone application Highlight, which provides personal information about other users around you. "I was thrilled to hear that Natasha won second place," said Annenberg TV News Associate Director Stacy Scholder, who worked with Zouves at the student-run news station. "But frankly, I was not surprised. She is a hard-working, thoughtful and creative broadcast journalist who deserves the honor." Scholder said the skills Zouves, who was both a reporter and anchor at ATVN, learned at USC Annenberg helped her current work as a journalist. While working together at ATVN, she watched Zouves' writing and reporting improve, reaching the point when her scripts rarely had to be revised. "Natasha has always been an aggressive reporter, determined to tell an informative, compelling story and to make it memorable," said Scholder, who is also a USC Annenberg professor. "She works hard, and I have no doubt she will be a successful television reporter in the professional world." Watch Zouves' package here.