Scripps Howard Ernie Pyle Memorial Award

The Ernie Pyle Award is presented annually to the journalism student of the year. It honors an outstanding graduating senior who shows professional promise and has a high grade average. The first award was given in 1960, and the annual cash award is financed by a grant from the Scripps Howard Foundation from the royalties received from sales of the noted World War II correspondent's books. Recipients are encouraged to use part of their awards for books for their personal professional library.

(Ernest Taylor Pyle, the Hoosier combat correspondent, wrote approximately 400,000 words from combat zones in both the European and Pacific Theaters between 1942 and 1945. He was one of 37 correspondents who lost their lives in battle. And he was one of an estimated 1,600 correspondents who reported from the battlefields of World War II. He was killed by a Japanese sniper's bullet in April of 1945.)

The award program was created by Willis C. Tucker, founding director of the School of Journalism, and Loye W. Miller, editor of the Knoxville News-Sentinel.

Student of the Year Award winners include:
1960 S. H. "Bo" Roberts
1961 Jacquelynn Gale Buchanan
1962 Don R. McNeil
1963 Emily Leuten Crump
1964 Robert M. Ketchersid
1965 Hal David Hall
1966 Alice Irene Massey
1967 William Floyd Childress
1968 George Earl DeVault Jr.
1969 Mimi Cazana
1970 James T. Trotter Jr.
1971 David Haley Lauver
1972 Lynn Ray Lewis
1973 Wendell Blaine Potter
1974 Gorman Frank Munger
1975 Joan Horne
1976 Alvin Bunch
1977 Brett Guge and Lisa Frye
1978 Joey Ledford
1979 Teresa Barker
1980 Monica Langley
1981 Janet Breazeale
1982 Shannon Barbare
1983 Lee Honeycutt
1984 Viola Gienger
1985 James DuPlessis
1986 Melanie Robinson
1987 J. Voris Williams Jr.
1988 Andy Logan
1989 Marti Buck
1990 Pamela G. Park
1991 Catherine Crawley
1992 Wayne Scarbrough
1993 Janel Shoun
1994 Fatima Hyder
1995 Jimmie Hollifield Jr.
1996 Catheryne Pully
1997 Angela Rich
1998 Carly Irion
1999 E. Knight Stivender
2000 Nellann Young