Carmel Delshad

Carmel Delshad is joining the Florida Focus team as a lead producer, web producer and backup reporter. She is currently a senior at the University of South Florida where she is studying for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism, with a concentration in magazine and telecommunications studies. She is of Palestinian and Egyptian descent and wishes to marry her love of the Middle Eastern culture with her communication background. She hopes to continue her studies in graduate school where she aims to earn dual master's degrees in Journalism and Middle Eastern affairs.

Carmel was recently awarded The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists (TBABJ) and St. Petersburg Times Minority Journalism Scholarship, The Tampa Tribune Minority Journalism Scholarship and is the national winner of the Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance 2009 "Dream Deferred Essay Contest," an initiative of the American Islamic Congress. Her print stories and broadcast piece submitted to the TBABJ Minority Scholarship committee displayed her multimedia talents and set her apart from other applicants. Carmel's mock news story of the future, titled "The Middle Eastern Artistic Revolution," spoke of a partnership between Arab American and Middle Eastern youth in the fight against literary censorship overseas.