John Di Carlo, adviser for The Temple News

In an age of New Media, Sean is leading the charge among his peers, both at Temple University and nationally. Sean is not a web junkie who’s simply trying to make sites with bells and whistles and string words together. Rather, he’s a serious journalist with real expertise in everything this industry needs to survive.

I can honestly say that Sean is as talented as any student I’ve worked with in my seven years here at Temple, and I would put him up against any student Web editor in the country. When I presented with Sean at a session entitled “Getting the most out of your newspaper’s Web site” at the College Media Advisers spring national convention in New York City, more than 75 students and advisers packed the room, and I know they were not there to see me. After our session concluded, several advisers and students came to speak to him because they had heard his name before. While I chatted with a colleague, I kept my other ear open and listened as Sean guided a handful of junior college students through the process of selecting a content management system and developing a plan for their workflow. They took notes as if Sean was a professor. Of course, he’s 21 and about to graduate, so he’s not a professor – yet. But this is why I often describe Sean as a true leader and mentor. He has a bright future ahead of him.

Christopher Wink, opinions editor for The Temple News

Sean's expertise allowed The Temple News to make a long overdue online switch from College Publisher to our own independent WPMU Web site. This was an enormous undertaking, including hand categorizing nearly a decade worth of archived content on the web. Since the switch, he has encouraged our staff to increase our output of video, audio and photo supplements. Sean is everything a web designer should be - curious, persistent and engaged with mastering new technologies - in addition to all of those qualities that are so often lacking in his peers; he is engaging, funny and lucid. I have watched him help bring The Temple News back to online relevance through these and a host of other long overdue measures. His persistence and devotion helped put us once again among the top collegiate newspapers in the country.

Sean showcases much of his best work on his own Web site, seanblanda.com.

Sean redesigned the temple-news.com Web site.

Video coverage of Hillary Clinton's visit to Temple University.