Journalism students in JOUR 215: Multimedia Reporting spent the Fall 2019 semester covering the Punkin Chunkin world championships, through print, audio, and video stories. They were selected to present their work at the 2020 University of Illinois Undergraduate Research Symposium. Below is an excerpt from the students’ application, as well as some of the videos and audio stories that they produced. Learn more about this class, taught by Associate Professor Charles 鈥淪tretch鈥� Ledford.
“It sounds crazy, but the 2019 Punkin Chunkin World Championship was the ideal learning lab for our Multimedia Journalism class last fall. … In a nutshell, dozens of people from around the country got together in Rantoul, Illinois, to see who could throw a pumpkin farthest (4,091 feet!). We spent the semester reporting on the Punkin Chunkin phenomenon from scientific, economic, agricultural, and sociological angles. We conducted more than 50 interviews with 鈥減unkin chunkers鈥� from Colorado to Texas to Delaware ranging in age from 11 to 70. We researched and reported on the history of Rantoul and the economic impact of events like the Chunk on the community. We traveled to Morton, Illinois, to report on the world鈥檚 largest pumpkin processing factory. We incorporated campus voices from several departments to help explain the strangely mesmerizing slice of Americana that is Punkin Chunkin. We built our own small trebuchets, catapults, and air cannons to better understand the methods behind the Chunkin madness.And we learned how to operate camera equipment and report under Illinois winter weather conditions for more than five hours a day during the weekend of the competition. In short, as we researched and produced more than 70 print, audio, and video stories, and one 360潞 video. To tell the tale of Punkin Chunkin, we learned more than how to practice journalism, we discovered that the learning is in the doing.”
鈥擬adelyn Foster and Acacia Hernandez
Watch the overview video
Learn about the history of catapults
Learn about the physics of centrifuge
Audio Stories
(Produced by Gretchen Macklin)
(Produced by Charrice Jones)
(Produced by Daria Makhneva)
(Produced by Emily Stutts)
(Produced by Gabby Hajduk)
(Produced by Isaiah Baba)
(Produced by JJ Kim)
(Produced by Madelyn Foster)
(Produced by Patrick Catezone)