BOSTON -- WCVB-TV/DT Channel 5 announced today the 2009 recipients of the Natalie Jacobson and Jim Thistle Internships, Boston University students Mary Stackhouse and Jennifer Oles.

The internships were created in July of 2007 by WCVB-TV/DT Channel 5 and its parent company, Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. to pay tribute to legendary anchor/reporter Natalie Jacobson and the late Jim Thistle, a former WCVB News Director and one of the most respected and admired journalists in Boston broadcasting history.

Mary Stackhouse has been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Jacobson Award. She is in the broadcast journalism program at Boston University. Stackhouse graduated from the University of Alabama and has worked as a reporter for Neighborhood Network news. Jennifer Oles is this year’s Thistle Award winner. She is also in the graduate broadcast program at BU. Oles graduated from Northeastern University and has interned at WGBH.

Two students are selected annually to spend the summer working in the WCVB/TheBostonChannel.com newsroom. The internship in Jacobson’s name is for a student pursuing a career as an on-air reporter. The second is for a student interested in producing and news management. The students were selected based on their academic record, determination and ambition to excel. The internship comes with a stipend and will give the students the ability to do reporting and producing under the supervision of the WCVB staff.

WCVB President and General Manager Bill Fine said, “Natalie and Jim will always be legends in our industry. It is wonderful that their legacies help support the next generation of journalists like Mary and Jennifer.”

Jacobson joined WCVB in 1972, weeks before the station went on-air. She rose from reporter to the first woman anchor of an evening newscast in Boston. In her storied tenure at Channel 5, Jacobson, known as “Nat” to viewers, has anchored nearly every live major event in New England including the Queen’s visit to Boston in 1976, the Tall Ships Parade, Liberty’s birthday in New York Harbor, the visits of Nelson Mandela, Pope John Paul II, 4th of July concerts on the Hatch Shell/Esplanade, the dedication of the JFK Library, the Patriots appearances in various Super Bowls and the year of the Red Sox in 2004.

Thistle has held leadership posts in newsrooms across the city, including several stints in political and special events producer roles and an-eight year tenure as News Director at WCVB. He passed away in July of 2008. Prior to his death, Thistle was a Professor of Journalism at Boston University and a frequent commentator and analyst on news media issues for local and national outlets.

Thistle was presented with the 2008 RTNDA Lifetime Achievement Award at the banquet. Jacobson received the same honor in 2005.