Deandre Allen, better known as Dre, is a New York City native from Queens. He graduated from St. Bonaventure in May of 2023 with a Bachelor of Arts in strategic communication and a minor in marketing.

At St. Bonaventure, Allen did some of his best work for the American Advertising Federation (AAF). He worked as an art director his junior year and was part of the pitch team for the National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC), where he and his peers pitched a campaign for the Meta Quest 2 VR headset.

In his senior year, he became the president of Kwerkwerks, St. Bonaventure’s student-run advertising agency. He and his team returned to the NSAC to pitch a campaign for Indeed. The team won first place in their district, the first time that a Bonaventure team has captured that honor.

Every year at the beginning of AAF, Professor Mike Jones-Kelley, the club’s adviser, asks his students if they want to focus on winning the competition or putting forth the best work they can possibly do. Allen’s proudest accomplishment is that he and his team were the first of MJK’s students to do both.

Allen's favorite experience during his time at St. Bonaventure was studying abroad for six weeks at Oxford University the summer of 2022, heading into his senior year. He had the opportunity to learn from an expert scientist who helped create the AstraZeneca vaccine (the second most used COVID vaccine in the world), attend several high-class etiquette dinners, and travel across Europe to amazing capital cities such as London, Brussels, and Amsterdam.

During February of his senior year, he was selected as one of 50 individuals to participate in the American Advertising Federation’s Most Promising Multicultural Student Program. This program allowed him to travel to New York City, where he toured some of the world’s best advertising agencies and holding companies. He participated in several professional workshops, networked with numerous members of the advertising industry, and pitched another campaign for the Meta Quest 2 VR headset to a panel of judges with representatives from both Meta and Dentsu, the holding company responsible for Meta’s advertising.

The best part of this experience for Allen was having his image displayed on an electronic billboard in Times Square, highlighting his and his peers' accomplishments.

In addition to the Hellinger award, Allen earned the Mosser Award for excellence in the strategic communication curriculum, was an honorable mention for the 2023 Ideal Bonaventure Student award, and was inducted into Chi Alpha Epsilon, the Higher Education Opportunity Program honor society.

Allen works for St. Bonaventure University as an admissions counselor, where he helps students attend the place he has called home for the past four years.

Marnique Olivieri-Panepento graduated magna cum laude in May 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and minors in international business and French.

During her undergraduate studies she was a reporter for TAPinto Greater Olean, a fact-checker for PolitiFact New York, a feature reporter for The Bona Venture, senior editor for Her Campus, a French tutor and an English writing lab tutor.

She interned at Positano News in Piano di Sorrento, Italy, and the League of Women Voters of Buffalo/Niagara. She spent the past summer with Universal McCann, a global media and advertising agency, as an account management summer resident.

Olivieri-Panepento is completing a public relations master’s degree at Hofstra University.

David Yaun is a 1985 graduate of the St. Bonaventure University's Jandoli School of Communication.

He has had a long and distinguished career in public relations and corporate communications. He began his career on the agency side, working at Technology Solutions Inc. and Edelman Public Relations, with a focus on clients in the consumer electronics industry. He worked at the U.S. headquarters of Sony Electronics and in the executive offices of Bank of America.

Most notably, he spent more than two decades at IBM, advising four CEOs and other C-suite executives on communications and innovation strategy. He was responsible for creating and leading three programs that were later recognized among the top “100 Icons of Progress” during IBM’s centennial celebration.

Yaun led IBM’s internal communications programs, research and technology communications, and global industry marketing organizations, with management responsibilities that spanned dozens of countries and six continents.

He is also active in support of nonprofit organizations. He sits on the board of advisors for Planet Word, a Washington, D.C.-based museum celebrating words and language; consults with the Giffords organization on promoting gun safety to large businesses; and has served on the boards of the Ridgefield Library and the ROAR animal shelter.

Yaun is a longtime member of the Jandoli School of Communication Advisory Council and most recently worked with the school to create and launch the annual American Sports Fanship Survey partnership with Siena College.

Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, a 1982 St. Bonaventure graduate, is the author of the instant New York Times bestsellers “The Nest” and “Good Company.” She is a Read with Jenna and Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick and her books have been named "Best of the Year" by People, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, NPR, Amazon, Real Simple and others.

Sweeney has been a guest on “Today,” “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” and NPR’s “All Things Considered.” “The Nest” is being adapted by AMC Studios as a limited series.

Previously, Sweeney worked in New York City for more than 20 years as a freelance copywriter and marketing and branding consultant. She has written or directed creative copy for a number of corporations, including American Express, McDonald’s, Condé Nast, and Kellogg’s. Sweeney has served as a trustee of the Berkeley-Carroll School in Brooklyn and Razia’s Ray of Hope, which provides education for young women in Afghanistan.

In addition to her undergraduate degree from St. Bonaventure, Sweeney holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars. She lives in Los Angeles with her family.

Mike Vaccaro has been the lead sports columnist at the New York Post since 2002, and in that time he’s been named New York Sportswriter of the Year four times. They are among the more than 100 awards he’s received in a journalism career that spans 35 years.

Vaccaro worked previously at newspapers in Olean, New York; Fayetteville, Arkansas.; Middletown, New York; Kansas City, Missouri; and Newark, New Jersey. He has written three books, including “1941: the Greatest Year in Sports,” which earned a spot on several critics’ lists as the best sports book of 2007.

A 1989 graduate of St. Bonaventure, Vaccaro won the Mark Hellinger as a senior, and in 2022 his name was added to the Jandoli School's Wall of Distinguished Graduates.

A native of West Hempstead, New York, Vaccaro and his wife of 28 years, Leigh, live in Hillsdale, New Jersey,

Born in New York City in 1903, Hellinger decided as a young boy that he wanted to be a writer. He went to work for the New York Daily News in 1923. His "About Town" column, dealing with Broadway, became the most-read feature in the paper and was published across the country. He is known as American journalism's first Broadway reporter.

Hellinger later moved to Hollywood to become a motion picture writer-producer for Warner Productions. He moved on to Twentieth Century-Fox, then, as an independent producer, to Universal Pictures, which financed and distributed his films.

"The Naked City," considered by many to be Hellinger's finest film, and the first movie to be shot entirely in the streets of New York City, came out in 1947 and was hailed as one of the year's major films. Hellinger was in his heyday as a writer and producer and was about to establish his own studio. But he had lifelong heart issues and died later that same year, at the age of 44.

In spirit of determination and hard-earned success, traits that defined Hellinger, the Mark Hellinger Award honors the Jandoli School of Communication's top students and celebrates the continuing accomplishments of its graduates.

Winners of the Mark Hellinger Award, presented annually by the Jandoli School of Communication at St. Bonaventure University.

Winners of the Jandoli School of Communication's Alumna/Alumnus of the Year Award, part of the Hellinger Award celebration.