Last semester, senior Diana Muniz wrote an article for The Spectrum which targeted a topic that many students are concerned with.

She had noticed a new trend where students, mostly female, were wearing bracelets that supported a website that aided people lose weight.

After visiting the website, she discovered that perhaps the address was causing more harm than good.

Diana Muniz is a senior and a media studies major. She commutes to SHU from Stamford, but is originally from the Bronx in New York.

Before attending Sacred Heart University she told the Spectrum that she had moved around quite a bit, from the Bronx to all over Massachusetts to Connecticut.

The site Diana found, had pictures that portrayed extremely skinny girls as beautiful.

Diana studied the site and even went through the trouble of showing it to a SHU professor for a second opinion on this matter.

The professor analyzed the article and came to the same conclusion as Diana, that this particular website encouraged eating disorders.

After further research, Diana wrote the article that she has recently received high recognition for.

In the spring, Diana was a member of The Spectrum writing staff. Before she joined the staff as part of her media studies requirement, she had been writing poetry in her spare time and always seemed to have a knack and an enjoyment for putting words down on paper.

After she had written the article for the Spectrum, she received her first award. She received the award for the best article of the semester and then the article began receiving more attention outside the campus.

Recently, The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) in Connecticut presented her with second place for the best article statewide in their college section.

"I was literally in shock, I did not expect to get the award, I had previously won the award for the best article of the semester and never thought I'd win the state contest," said Muniz.

"Young girls are really tortured by the concept of beauty, its been said before but the way women are portrayed on television and in publications creates an image that is almost impossible to achieve and some girls are killing themselves to try to obtain this appearance."

Last year was the first year Diana had her work published and she knocked it out of the park in her first semester. The article caught the attention of The Spectrum staff, editors and advisors, which aided in the statewide recognition after being read by a good portion of the student body.

According to Diana, she plans to write in the future.

"I love being a journalist, I love to write, that's my passion," said Muniz.

In addition to writing she also enjoys photography and wants to eventually work in publications.

"[After graduation] I would really like to work for an international magazine like Cosmo or Vogue, as a features writer or maybe even a translator," said Muniz.

Diana's ability to speak several different languages sparked her interest in translating for an international publication. Besides being a talented writer Diana speaks Spanish, Portuguese, French and she is currently learning Italian.

After winning this prestigious award, Muniz ensures that she will not stop writing anytime soon. Besides being on the newspaper staff last semester, she is a contributing writer this semester as well as the assistant editor to the Spectrum's new magazine that will be available to the school later in the semester. With her passion for writing, hopefully we will be reading more of her work as the year continues and in the future.