Gaby Loria won third place for her spot-news assignment focusing on security issues in a post-9/11 world.

Gaby Loria, B.S.C. ’10, a broadcast journalism and Latin American studies major, won third place in the Hearst Journalism Award’s 2010 Broadcast News Championship, becoming the first student from the University of Miami to capture a top-ranking prize in the prestigious contest.

Sponsored by The William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the finals competition, held June 8-12 in New York City, featured ten college broadcast journalism students from around the country challenging each other in a spot-news assignment for the opportunity to win up to $5,000 in prize money. The assignment was to produce a story in two days about post-9/11 security. Professionals in the radio and television industry served as judges.

Loria, who is 22, focused her story on the perspectives of Arab-American communities. “It was the most challenging assignment I’ve done in my reporting career, but also very rewarding,” she said. “I was producing a story in a city where I had no contacts or sources and on a very quick deadline. I think the key was finding the people I needed to talk to and approaching them as someone who was generally concerned and had an open mind, not someone who just wanted a sound bite.”

While at UM, Loria was an anchor for UMTV’s NewsVision and its Spanish-language news show, UniMiami. She traveled to Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens to conduct interviews with Arab-American advocacy groups and leaders in the community.

Loria’s third-place finish came with a $3,000 award. She’ll use the funds to cover moving expenses to El Paso, Texas, where she begins a new job next month as a reporter for KVIA ABC-7.