Seen with her Nikon camera around her neck, Alexandra Hemmerly-Brown spent her time following soldiers and sharing their stories since her deployment in June 2006.

For the past year, this describes Communications student Alexandra Hemmerly-Brown. She was deployed to Iraq last June and has spent her time serving her country by writing stories and taking pictures as a public affairs print journalist for a paper in the city of Balad, north of Baghdad.

Hemmerly-Brown received Journalist of the Year for Army Reserves, one of the Keith L. Ware awards, which recognizes top journalists within the Army. She was chosen for her feature stories and photojournalism that focused on the soldier’s lives.

“This is a great honor for a current School of Communications student,” said Janna Anderson, associate professor of communications. “We are incredibly proud of her here at Elon.”

Hemmerly-Brown took Anderson’s Media Writing class in the fall of 2005. Before she had even entered the introductory course at Elon, she had learned journalistic style in her training with the Reserves. This was impressive to Anderson, because in most cases, journalism students come into the course with little knowledge of Associate Press style. .

Hemmerly-Brown remembered hearing about the KLW awards while she was training in Maryland, because many of her Reserves professors were given the same award and are current judges.

“It’s basically just a part of the culture there—the highest award an Army journalist can obtain, and something to strive for,” Hemmerly-Brown said in an e-mail.

Hemmerly-Brown also said she is very humbled about being recognized for her work and says it hasn’t really sunk in that she has won. She said it shows that she is growing as a journalist and always learning and making improvements. She stressed that her number one job in Iraq is being a soldier and serving her country. At the same time, she feels blessed to be able to serve her country while being creative and making a difference.

“I look around and I see soldiers doing their jobs and doing everything that is expected of them, but they are not passionate about the jobs they do,” Hemmerly-Brown said.

When Hemmerly-Brown heads out to cover a story, she is always in full Army gear, complete with a rifle, a notebook and a camera. As journalists everywhere are taught, she is to do everything she can to capture her story, even if it means following the soldier on raids or patrols. This is the only way to really tell the story, and Hemmerly-Brown will often follow the soldiers around multiple times to make sure she can capture what it is like for them on a daily basis.

“There are a lot of stories being told by mainstream media in the States, but there are also a lot of stories not being told,” Hemmerly-Brown said. “As a soldier, I have a better inside view on what is important to other soldiers, and therefore can tell their stories more effectively on some levels.”

Among the many successes for Hemmerly-Brown, there are also some challenges. She learned early on that military and civilian journalism are drastically different in style. She said there are some limits on what they are able to talk about and print. The military will often try and focus on the good over the bad to entertain, rather than upset, the soldiers.

Even with the small challenges, Hemmerly-Brown works to tell the soldiers’ stories and is honored she was given this opportunity. Not only was she been given the chance to tell these stories, she is able to travel all around Iraq. She was on a number of convoys and has ridden on Blackhawks that were attacked. Because of the intensive training she received, she is prepared for any new and different situation she may come across.

“[Hemmerly-Brown] stands out because she has the ability to be empathetic and concerned as a journalist,” Anderson said. “She has already gained what is equivalent to years worth of experience and because of this, many doors will be opened for her.”

Hemmerly-Brown has a few months left in Iraq. She will return to Elon in the fall and plans to graduate in a year or a year and a half. She will remain in the Army Reserves and hopes to find a job in broadcast.