Phat Nguyen is the news editor and social media manager for the Wilkes Beacon. He began as a sports columnist and quickly worked his way to sports editor before switching to news. After working in the newspaper industry for only two years, Phat has been recognized by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association with a first place finish for Layout and Design and second place for general news. The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) awarded the John Curley scholarship to Phat to attend the AAJA National Convention in Detroit, Michigan in August 2011. Phat serves as the president of the Wilkes Society of Professional Journalists which has now resurfaced under his leadership. The chapter is now sending six members to the SPJ Region 1 convention at Stony Brook University. As a student coordinator, he is currently planning the Tom Bigler Journalism conference, which promotes journalism to more than 400 high school students across Northeast Pennsylvania. After only two months as a sports intern at The Citizen’s Voice, Phat now works as a staff writer at the “Best Daily Newspaper” as voted by the Society of Professional Journalists. He hopes to use his background in science, pharmacy and chemistry to become a health/medical reporter. Phat is a member of the the Asian American Journalists Association, Society of Professional Journalists and Association of Health Care Journalists. Twitter: @PhatNguyen_ @Biglerconf @WilkesBeacon @BeaconNews @CVPhatNguyen