Student Profiles – RJ Vogt
RJ Vogt
A College Scholars Program alumnus, RJ Vogt is the 2015 recipient of the Jeff Zaslow College Columnist Award of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists (NSNC) Education Foundation. RJ, writing for the campus newspaper The Daily Beacon, was chosen by best-selling novelist Michael Koryta, a former newspaper reporter.
“The best columnists are those who prioritize story over voice,” Koryta writes in his judge’s comments, “and RJ Vogt excels in this area. Vogt displays not only unusual writing talent, but also the ability to conceive of – and then execute – stories from a unique perspective. Rather than settle for the traditional point of view, he constantly seeks to find the best lens for the story, and then writes with subtle power.”
Former NSNC President, Benjamin Pollock said of the winner: “Vogt takes the column craft seriously with appropriate reporting and finding unique angles. He blends a meditation on Martin Luther King Jr. with watching Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston playing LBJ on stage, and meeting him afterward. Vogt in exploring a homeless camp sees residents burn a free weekly for fuel, noting the little newspaper just folded. He describes the house and routines of a disabled veteran so we come to know him, though Vogt doesn’t name him.”
RJ was unable to attend NSNC’s annual conference—a perquisite of the first-place scholar with complementary registration, hotel and travel—because he moved to Yangon, Myanmar (Burma), to work as a reporter at the Myanmar Times as a Princeton in Asia Fellow for the 2015-2016 year. Vogt’s main prize from the NSNC Education Foundation was $1,000.