LYNN — With two national recognitions in two years, Lynn native Allana Barefield continues to make a name for herself.
Last week, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) named her their 2019 Student Journalist of the Year, following in line of many of her journalism idols, she said.
“I would never have guessed I would’ve gotten the award,” said Barefield. “Everybody before me who got it, I’ve looked up to and admired their work. It was one of those moments when you have to pinch yourself … It was nice to see my peers, colleagues and mentors, and people who I don’t even know, stopping me in the hallway and saying congrats or telling me my name or face seemed familiar to them.”
Last year, she was one of four recipients to win a $25,000 merit scholarship from Beyoncé’s Inaugural Homecoming Scholars Award program.
Barefield got the congratulatory call from the NABJ in April, she said, but the news wasn’t released until a week before the association’s annual convention, which was in Miami at the beginning of August. This was the Lynn English almuna’s sixth time attending the convention and the feeling of being there every year, surrounded by idols and peers, is better than Christmas, she said.
“You get this warm feeling inside when you’re there,” she said. “It’s a week where you’re shown how much you’ve accomplished and how much more you need to accomplish.”
Barefield said she joined NABJ her junior year of high school, after being accepted into their high school journalism workshop. She felt inspired to pursue a career in journalism because she wanted to honor her father, who died of an illness when she was in 10th grade.
Since then, she has completed internships with The Sports Journalism Institute/Tampa Bay Times, the Boston Globe, the New York Times, and was awarded a fellowship with global music-streaming service Spotify. She graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana earlier this year, with a Bachelor of Arts in multimedia journalism.
Even with all her completed work, Barefield said she remained committed to giving back to NABJ. Since graduating high school, she has volunteered with the association’s high school workshop every year. They are like family, she said.
“I look at the girls in the high school workshop that I go back to,” said Barefield. “They are aspiring college journalists telling me how much they love my work and it feels good.”
Barefield was also president of the NABJ chapter at her former university. She said she revived the whole chapter from the ground up.
“I always try to go and give back to them because they helped me become who I am today,” she said. “So being recognized by them, an organization I’ve poured everything into, is special.”
The annual NABJ convention is a huge commitment, she said. Every year it is held in a different state, which means a lot of planning and even more time away from work.
But the career choice was well worth it, she said. With a clear passion for sports and entertainment, Barefield said she is always finding new stories that light a spark in her. There is no better feeling than seeing one of her articles published or when a source calls her and expresses gratitude for her work on covering a story.
“Journalism is important because we are the microphone to the voiceless, especially for me being a black reporter with an opportunity to cover the black community,” she said. “But, in situations like being the only black female journalist in a sports room, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad. All I know is diversity needs to happen a little bit more, especially when it comes to us, minorities and people of color. We need to be represented and that’s why organizations like the NABJ and the National Association of Hispanic Journalists are so important.”