Prince Robinson Wins National Jim Murray Memorial Foundation Scholarship

VALDOSTA — Valdosta State University’s Prince Robinson Jr. has earned a highly coveted spot among the best collegiate sports writers in the United States.

Earlier this year Robinson secured the privilege of representing VSU at the 2019 Jim Murray Sports Writing Contest. He went on to compete against top student-journalists from colleges and universities across the country for one of five $3,000 Jim Murray Memorial Foundation scholarships — and he won.

“I honestly never thought I would win an award to this magnitude,” he said. “It really means a lot to me because it validates the hard work, late nights, and early mornings I had to endure during the process. This is the greatest achievement of my life, by far. I cannot thank the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation enough for selecting me for the Class of 2019.”

The Jim Murray Sports Writing Contest is funded by the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation, which was established in 1999 by Linda Murray-Hofmans to perpetuate the legacy of Los Angeles Times Pulitzer Prize-winning sports columnist Jim Murray through a national essay competition for collegiate journalism students. The applicants are required to write a story in Murray’s style, which is remembered for its humor, hyperbole, and one-liners.

Robinson’s winning article focuses on Cayden Cochran, former Blazer Nation quarterback who led VSU football to its third NCAA Division II National Championship title in 2012.

“Cochran grew up in Cashion, Oklahoma, and remains one of the most profound athletes to ever grace the town,” Robinson shared. “He endured several injuries, position changes, and setbacks before ultimately coming to VSU ….

“I chose this topic because here is this athlete who was told that he couldn’t be a starting quarterback at the University of Oklahoma, his childhood dream school. He gets there and was changed to wide receiver after two weeks — after he had played quarterback practically his entire life.

“Cochran knew he was meant to be a signal caller, so VSU allowed him that opportunity. It was one of the best decisions in VSU football history …. He is now a member of the VSU Athletic Hall of Fame along with his teammates from that championship year.”

A total of 119 collegiate journalists have won a Jim Murray Memorial Foundation scholarship. Two of them, Robinson and 2017’s Darla Dunning, are from VSU.

Robinson serves as sports editor for The Spectator, VSU’s independent student-run newspaper, and holds a Multimedia Basics Certificate and an Editing Certificate from the Poynter Institute. He is a two-time recipient of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation’s Otis A. Brumby II Scholarship. He was recently elected vice president of the Georgia College Press Association, after serving as a junior board member. He completed an internship at the Chapel Hill News and Views during the summer of 2017 as well as an internship with the Marietta Daily Journal during the summer of 2019.

Robinson expects to graduate in May 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts in English focused in journalism. He dreams of working as a sports beat writer for a newspaper and hopes to ultimately become a sports columnist later in his career. He is the son of Prince Robinson Sr. and Keyona Robinson of Douglasville, Georgia.