Ashley D.

Withers
625 Ryan Street Lake Charles, LA 70601 713-822-0032 ashleydwithers@gmail.com ashleywithers.com

EXPERIENCE
American Press A Lake Charles-based daily newspaper covering five parishes in Southwest Louisiana Currently employed as a Staff Writer Focus on education in Calcasieu Parish, as well as covering other daily events Report and write at least one story a day, including breaking news and feature stories (Jan. 2012- Present)

The Dallas Morning News (Aug. 2011- Dec. 2011) The award-winning daily newspaper serving over 260,000 subscribers in the Dallas area Worked as a Staff Writer Wrote breaking news for the dallasnews.com website and crime blog Focused primarily on writing crime stories, trend watch, and features on Dallas locals The Daily Campus (Sept. 2010- Dec. 2011) SMUs student newspaper that publishes a print edition thrice as well as continually updated web content Worked as the Editor in Chief, previously worked as a Staff Writer (Fall 2010), Associate News Editor (Spring 2011) Led a staff of 21 to cover campus news, events and feature stories Wrote articles and created video packages for the web in addition to editing and print content duties Human Events (May 2011- Nov. 2011) A weekly conservative newspaper that features content from writers such as Ann Coulter and Pat Buchanan Worked as a regular contributor to Pick Your Future, a Human Events blog for 20-somethings, previously worked as a summer intern (Summer 2011) Wrote two posts a week for Pick Your Future on topics such as new media and unemployment, contribute articles to The Chase 2012 section, a portion of Human Events dedicated to the 2012 presidential race Shot and edited videos from events and interviews for the website The Daily Update (Aug. 2009- Dec. 2011) SMU-TVs weekday morning, student run news broadcast that airs online Monday through Friday Positions held: producer, writer, anchor, server, reporter, and director Shot and edited packages to run in the newscast Used iNews, Final Cut Pro and Adobe Photoshop to create necessary components of the broadcast Katy, Sugarland and Cyfair Magazines (June 2009- Aug. 2010) Hyper-local family and community magazines serving the suburbs in the Greater Houston area Served as a contributing editor and writer (Fall 2010), Summer Intern (Summer 2009, 2010) Wrote feature stories on locals, as well as checked facts and copy edited the magazine proof Updated each magazines website daily and ran the companys Facebook and Twitter accounts

EDUCATION Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX

Meadows School of the Arts Bachelor of Arts in Journalism

December 2011 Overall GPA: 3.7 Major GPA: 3.9

AWARDS AND HONORS

2012 First Amendment Award from the Society of Professional Journalists Region 8 Mark of Excellence Awards 1st place Online In-Depth Reporting4 Year College/University from the Society of Professional Journalists Region 8 1st place In-Depth Reporting from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Awards 2nd place Feature Writing from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association Awards 2010 Collaborated on a grant with UVA and the Institute for Shipboard Education on global sustainability 2009 3rd Place Best Original News Piece from the Texas Community Newspaper Association Awards