His sports journalism career started as a 16-year-old taking high school volleyball scores over the phone for a tiny newspaper in Gresham, Ore.

Six years and dozens of articles later, NewsNet sports editor Seth Lewis has been recognized nationally for his sports writing.

On Monday, Lewis was named a winner of the NCAA Foundation/Freedom Forum scholarship, a $3,000 award given to eight college juniors for excellence in sports journalism.

"I'm flattered," said Lewis, 22, a print journalism major. "Honestly, I hardly feel worthy of it. But it's certainly nice to get that kind of recognition."

Lewis covered the BYU men's basketball team a year ago as a reporter for The Daily Universe and drew on stories he wrote that semester for his scholarship application.

"That experience was invaluable," Lewis said. "I learned a lot in the day-to-day reporting, and I came out with some good clippings."

Sports writing has been Lewis' shtick since his high school stint at The Gresham (Ore.) Outlook, where he went from taking phone calls to covering local high school teams and small-college sports.

Since coming to BYU, he has done correspondent work for The Daily Herald and The Salt Lake Tribune.

"Journalism's in the blood," he said. "My dad was a newspaper editor, and ever since high school it's all I've wanted to do."



Copyright Brigham Young University 30 Jan 2001