Austin White
Sports Reporter for the Pueblo Chieftain
About Me
Dedicated sports journalist with four years of reporting experience and over a year professionally. I am willing to go beyond the box score and tell the story surrounding not only the game, but the athletes and other factors that occur outside of the lines. Fans today want to know who they are cheering for and the details about what is going on inside the structure of their teams and I thrive to showcase all of these demands for the readers.
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Sports have always been my biggest passion as they have the ability to inspire and teach a community. However, they also have power to negatively influence culture and create situations that cause real-life pain. Being able to adapt and cover more than the technical sports aspect is growing in importance and through my experience at the Pueblo Chieftain, in student media and my internship at The Loveland Reporter-Herald, I have learned what it takes to be a sportswriter in the digital age.
Work Experience
Sports Reporter
The Pueblo Chieftain, Pueblo, Colorado
May 2018 - Present
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Covering prep sports at nine different high schools in Pueblo County with features, game coverage and general news stories
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Using multimedia to tell better sports stories in the Pueblo community
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Maintaining social media presence with over 400 new followers on prep rally Twitter page and making sports stories the most engaging posts on the paper's social pages.
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Taking photos of sporting events and creating galleries to go along with articles
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Creating structures to better organize the sports desk daily tasks and story assignments
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Nominated for 2018 social media award by the Southern Colorado Press Club
Intern
Loveland Reporter Herald, Loveland, Colorado
January 2018 - May 2018
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Hands-on experience for a semester under deadline pressure
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Learned from a professional sports editor who provides real-world tips and lessons
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Covered high school sports, everything from tennis to soccer to basketball
Sports Reporter
Rocky Mountain Collegian, Fort Collins, Colorado
January 2016 - May 2018
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Maintained beat coverage on CSU softball, volleyball and basketball, which included features, recaps, briefs and breaking news coverage, totaling over 100 articles
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Worked through public relations workers and being able to tell the full story
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Interviewed athletes, coaches and other outside sources to tell better stories
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Produced and appeared on weekly sports shows like “Ram Talk” on 102.9 The Rock FM
Freelance Reporter
The Coloradoan, Fort Collins, Colorado
September 2017
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Published work online covering high school football and the inaugural FORTitude 10k race.
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Experienced reporting on a professional event with coverage of the FORTitude race.
Education
Bachelor of Arts, Journalism and Media Communication
Colorado State University
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GPA of 3.61
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Video editing, multimedia storytelling, sports reporting are some of the relevant course taken while at CSU
Minor: Applied Statistics
Colorado State University
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Knowledge of statistics can help with story analytics and find new ways to tell stories, especially in sports
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Sampling techniques course taken as well to help with polling articles