ENC native up for CNN award

Commentary about the 2012 presidential election has garnered a CNN’s iReport Award nomination for a Jacksonville High School graduate.

Elizabeth Lauten, 30, a media consultant in Alexandria, Va., won a video contest last year to be a guest correspondent for CNN’s coverage of the Republican National Convention. Her commentary about the public backlash actress Stacey Dash received for supporting GOP hopeful Mitt Romney has been nominated for an award in CNN’s third annual iReport Awards.

“It’s kind of crazy looking back at where I am now from being in Jacksonville 10 years ago,” Lauten said. “Things are finally coming around full circle from then. A couple of years ago I wouldn’t have even said that I would be a correspondent for CNN.”

Lauten, who graduated from JHS in 2001, became involved in politics during her junior year at East Carolina University by volunteering for local campaigns and participating in the College Republicans group on campus. She also served as editor of the college’s newspaper The East Carolinian before graduating in 2006 and immediately moving to Alexandria.

Lauten now works as a social and earned media manager at Purple Strategies firm and writes movie and television reviews for Miss A online publication. She previously served as press secretary for Republican congressman Joe Walsh and as a new media political manager for the Republican National Committee.

Lauten supported Romney and was appalled at how people treated Dash, best known for her role in the film “Clueless.”

“Instead of attacking folks, celebrity or not, who choose to be engaged and part of the political process, we should applaud them,” Lauten said in her passionate video commentary.

To view her commentary video go to http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-854581.

The iReports are an essential element of newsgathering at CNN, helping the cable network cover the biggest news events of 2012 including Superstorm Sandy, devastating wildfires in Colorado and the Israel-Gaza conflict, CNN spokeswoman Jenna DiMaria said. The reports, she said, also shared uniquely personal stories that put a face on complex issues like mental illness and gay rights.

For the first time this year, CNN will honor standout citizen journalism that happened elsewhere on the Internet in 2012.

“The iReport Awards are a wonderful way to acknowledge standout citizen journalism, and we’re excited to expand that to other sites this year,” said Katie Hawkins-Gaar, the editor of CNN iReport. “We love nothing more than helping amazing stories reach a global audience, and it is an honor for us to showcase such quality examples of storytelling through the Awards.”

Winners will be selected with a combination of judges and votes from the viewing public.

The 36 nominees were selected by a panel of CNN experts who reviewed nearly 11,000 iReports approved for use on CNN in 2012. There are six categories: Breaking News, Original Reporting, Compelling Imagery, Commentary, Personal Story and In-depth Storytelling. Judges will select one recipient in each category.

Recipients will be chosen through a combination of online voting and a panel of judges. Voters can make their selections now through May 6 at cnn.com/ireport-awards.

You can reach Lindell Kay at 910-219-8455 or lindell.kay@jdnews.com.