2017 HEARST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS ANNOUNCED
San Francisco – Winning college journalists in the National Writing, Photojournalism, Radio, Television and Multimedia Championships were announced on June 1, 2017 by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation’s Journalism Awards Program, during the final awards ceremony in Alexandra’s Ballroom of The Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.
The Hearst Championships are the culmination of the 2016 – 2017 Journalism Awards Program, which are held in 106 member colleges and universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs.
This year’s 14 monthly competitions garnered 1,267 entries in the 14 monthly competitions.
From May 29th through June 1st, 29 finalists – all top winners of the monthly competitions – participated in the 57th annual Hearst Championships in San Francisco where they demonstrated their writing, photography, radio, television and multimedia skills in rigorous on-the-spot assignments. The assignments were chosen by media professionals who judged the finalists’ work throughout the year and at the Championships.
The following are the first, second and third-place winners and the scholarships they received:
NATIONAL WRITING CHAMPIONSHIP
First Place, Taylor Telford, Indiana University, $5,000 award
Second Place, Lauren Brown-Hulme, University of Nebraska, $4,000 award
Third Place, Hannah Alani, Indiana University, $3,000 award
NATIONAL PHOTOJOURNALISM CHAMPIONSHIP
First Place, Calla Kessler, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, $5,000 award
Second Place, Gabriel Scarlett, Western Kentucky University, $4,000 award
Third Place, Mac Snyder, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $3,000 award
NATIONAL RADIO BROADCAST NEWS CHAMPIONSHIP
First Place, Jessica O’Connor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $5,000 award
Second Place, Carter Woodiel, University of Missouri, $4,000 award
Third Place, Caitlin Switalski, University of Florida, $3,000 award
NATIONAL TELEVISION BROADCAST NEWS CHAMPIONSHIP
First Place, Maggie Lorenz, University of Florida, $5,000 award
Second Place, Adriana De Alba, Arizona State University, $4,000 award
Third Place, Cole Sullivan, University of Southern California, $3,000 award
NATIONAL MULTIMEDIA CHAMPIONSHIP
First Place, Claire Collins, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $5,000 award
Second Place, Alyse Young, Western Kentucky University, $4,000 award
Third Place, Ryan McNulty, San Francisco State University, $3,000 award
Finalists in the Championship are:
Five finalists in the Writing Championship, who will each receive $1,500 scholarships
(listed in alphabetical order):
Chris Bowling, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jordan Guskey, Indiana University
Nicolás Rivero, Northwestern University
Nathan Ruiz, Oklahoma State University
Carter Walker, Penn State University
The $1,000 Award for Article of the Year went to Lauren Brown-Hulme, University of Nebraska-Lincoln for “Shepherd of the Streets” published on WoundsofWhiteclay.com.
The $1,000 Award for Best Enterprise Story went to Taylor Telford, Indiana University for “A Questions of Consent” from Indiana Daily Student.
Those awards were selected from the monthly writing competition entries.
Three finalists in the Photojournalism Championship, who will each receive $1,500 scholarships
(listed in alphabetical order):
Alex Driehaus, Ohio University
Harrison Alexander Hill, Western Kentucky University
Joel Angel Juárez, San Francisco State University
The $1,000 Award for Best Picture Story went to Srijita Chattopadhyay, Western Kentucky University.
The Single Photo Award of $1,000 went to Joel Angel Juárez, San Francisco State University.
Those awards were selected from the 12 semi-final portfolios.
Two finalists in the Radio Championship, who will each receive $1,500 scholarships (listed in alphabetical order):
J McAuliffe, Arizona State University
John Thomas, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The $1,000 Award for Best Use of Radio for News Coverage went to Jessica O’Connor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This award was selected from the monthly radio entries.
Two finalists in the Television Championship, who will each receive $1,500 scholarships (listed in alphabetical order):
Jesse Kirsch, Northwestern University
Brad Streicher, University of Southern California
The Best Use of Television for News Coverage Award of $1,000 went to Cole Sullivan, University of Southern California. This award was selected from the ten semi-final entries.
Two finalists in the Multimedia Championship, who will receive $1,500 scholarship (listed in alphabetical order):
Drea Cornejo, University of Florida
Casey Toth, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The $1,000 Award for Multimedia Story of the Year went to Drea Cornejo, University of Florida. This award was selected from the monthly competition entries.
The writing judges were: Nicole Carroll, Vice President/News and Editor, The Arizona Republic/azcentral.com, AZ; Audrey Cooper, Editor-in-Chief, The San Francisco Chronicle, CA; and David Zeeck, Publisher, The News Tribune, WA.
The photojournalism judges were: Kenneth Irby, Independent Visual Consultant, FL; Lisa Krantz, Staff Photographer, San Antonio Express-News, TX; Dai Sugano, Staff Photographer/Senior Multimedia Editor, The Mercury News, CA.
The radio and television judges were: Harvey Nagler, recently retired Vice President, Radio, CBS News, NY; Lloyd Siegel, former Vice President of News Partnerships, NBC News, NY; and Fred Young, retired Senior Vice President of News, Hearst Television Inc., PA.
The multimedia Judges were: Tiffany Campbell, Executive Editor, Digital, WBUR 90.9, www.wbur.org, MA; Kenny Irby, Independent Visual Consultant, FL; and Mark Morris, Senior Editor/Multimedia, The Sacramento Bee, CA.
The William Randolph Hearst Foundation was established by its namesake in 1948 under California non-profit laws, exclusively for educational and charitable purposes. Since then, the Hearst Foundations have contributed over 1 billion dollars to numerous educational programs, health and medical care, human services and the arts in every state.
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program was founded in 1960 to foster journalism education through scholarships for outstanding college students. Since its inception, the program has distributed more than $12 million in scholarships and grants for the very best work by student journalists.
