UNT received a 2017 Sen. Paul Simon Spotlight Award for its Heart of Mexico Literary and Visual Storytelling Project, which takes student journalists out of familiar environments and provides them with the same challenges they could someday face as foreign correspondents, freelance writers and photojournalists.

The project was launched in 2013 by Thorne Anderson, associate professor in UNT's Mayborn School of Journalism. It puts students in teams to create multimedia stories, which are published annually in a bilingual online publication.

The award was presented by NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the world's largest nonprofit association dedicated to international education and exchange.