![\"Caroline](\"https:\/\/blogarchive.utc.edu\/news\/files\/2023\/12\/CarolineColvin-e1702663185192-300x300.jpg\")
Caroline Colvin<\/p><\/div>\n
Colvin, a senior in communication and Spanish at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, turned that powerful tale into \u201cThe Road to the Medal\u201d<\/strong><\/a>\u2014a story that led to her selection as one of the Top 10 winners in the 2023-2024 Hearst Journalism Awards for Feature Writing. She was the first UTC student to earn a writing honor in the prestigious competition.<\/p>\n Veteran Dave Hill told Colvin how he and three other soldiers clung to the helicopter\u2019s rocket pods and landing skids after Taylor dropped down to ground level and, 10 seconds later, lifted the men 1,500 feet straight up.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t imagine how traumatic that is. So that was different for me because I don\u2019t hear people talk about it very often,\u201d Colvin said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Road to the Medal\u201d ranked seventh among 152 stories submitted by students from 82 journalism schools nationwide.<\/p>\n \u201cStories should be memorable for their reporting, crafting, creativity and economy of expression,\u201d according to the Hearst Journalism Awards website.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Road to the Medal\u201d was made as a project in Rising Rock, a UTC course where students create journalism pieces that combine writing, audio and visual components. For her story, Colvin interviewed Hill, who spoke in great detail about the terror he felt before being rescued through Taylor\u2019s bravery.<\/p>\n \u201cHer writing paints a vivid picture of this rescue.\u00a0She came back with a story fit for a movie set,\u201d said Billy Weeks, creator and director of Rising Rock. \u201cHer winning story is an amazing accomplishment.\u201d<\/p>\n For the video that accompanied Colvin\u2019s story, Taylor Carmody, a senior in communication, interviewed Mike Holden, another soldier rescued by Taylor.<\/p>\n Colvin, who also is editor-in-chief of the University Echo, the student newspaper at UTC, said her conversation with Hill struck a journalistic chord inside her.<\/p>\n \u201cAs I heard him talking, I realized, \u2018Wow, this is a really important story,\u2019\u201d recalled Colvin, \u201cand it makes you think: How many other people have stories like that that we just don\u2019t know about?\u201d<\/p>\n After years of work by Hill and others, Taylor was awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor for his bravery, the highest honor in the U.S. Armed Forces. He received his Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony on Sept. 5, 2023, and was honored six days later with a parade in Chattanooga.<\/p>\n Visit UTC<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cThe Road to the Medal\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Rising Rock<\/a><\/p>\nLearn More<\/h4>\n