Our Crowdfunding Groups
Come back soon!
This project will be launching soon.
Maikranz Student Media Award, established Feb. 19, 2019
Wayne Maikranz
R.I.P, Sept. 4, 1960 - Sept. 27, 2023 (Wayne's Obituary)
What an honor, and a humbling experience, to find that a group of my Student Niner Media alumni family chose to create a leadership award in my name. I am so moved. This is a great way to recognize new Niner Media members who excel as editors and managers.
Even after all these years, we find ways to reconnect and share a laugh. I know we will all have our own "media family." - Wayne Maikranz, February 20, 2019
Wayne Maikranz guided and directed the Student Niner Media Department in 1986, and it has grown exponentially. He retired in December, 2019.
The award given in his honor will benefit current UNC Charlotte students who work in a student media leadership or editorial position. It was established by alumni Brent Sparks, Melissa (Manware) Treadaway, Joe Posnanski, George Swygert, and, Tracey Burnette, and Mike Burnette.
Wayne influenced, taught, inspired, and encouraged students for over three decades. When he first arrived, columns of type were printed and manually affixed on the page with melted wax. He shepherded that fledgling program into digital production and through the New Media sea-change that moved journalism online. From points to pixels, Wayne was the keystone of a student media program that continues to be nationally recognized for excellence.
Jim Hoppa, retired Senior Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, said he was astounded by the awards that UNC Charlotte student media would bring back to campus. “Here we were going against [UNC Chapel Hill] and other big universities with acclaimed journalism schools, and yet we were often winning against them! Wayne had a knack for finding, recruiting, and developing students from a variety of majors..."
The Wayne Maikranz Student Media Leadership Award will provide a scholarship to at least one student media member each year. Please join us in helping to honor the genuine bonds Wayne forged with students, the careers he helped launch, and his dedication to UNC Charlotte.
