Newsmaker: Samantha Barker

Noteworthy: Samantha Barker won an award from the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for her student broadcast “Pittsburgh's Light The Night.”

Age: 24

Residence: Shadyside

Occupation: Barker is an intern at Yelp working in social media and marketing.

Background: The Mt. Lebanon native was given one of the academy's Student Awards for Excellence in College Production for a news package she developed at Duquesne University. She was a producer-reporter on a piece about a fundraiser walk for blood cancer on the North Shore. She also held internships with WQED and KDKA in 2014 and said she hopes to start a career in broadcast journalism.

Education: B.A. in broadcast journalism, Duquesne University, 2015

Quote: “It was crazy to be there (at the awards ceremony in Philadelphia) with people that I had looked up to and who were the reasons that I had gone into broadcasting.”