2018 Hearst Championship Winners

HEARST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS SELECTED

San Francisco – Winning college journalists in the National Writing, Photojournalism, Radio, Television and Multimedia Championships were announced on June 6, 2018 by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation’s Journalism Awards Program, during the final awards ceremony at The Bently Reserve in San Francisco.

The Hearst Championships are the culmination of the 2017 – 2018 Journalism Awards Program, which were held in 105 member universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs.

From June 3 through June 6, 28 finalists – all winners from the 14 monthly competitions – participated in the 58th 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, Jack Evans, Indiana University, $10,000 award
Second Place, Nyssa Kruse, Indiana University, $7,500 award
Third Place, Alison Kuznitz, Pennsylvania State University, $5,000 award

NATIONAL PHOTOJOURNALISM CHAMPIONSHIP
First Place, Patrick Connolly, Ohio University, $10,000 award
Second Place, Alex Driehaus, Ohio University, $7,500 award
Third Place, Gabriel Scarlett, Western Kentucky University, $5,000 award

NATIONAL RADIO CHAMPIONSHIP
First Place, Jay Siebold, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $10,000 award
Second Place, Ashley Tsao, University of Texas at Austin, $7,500 award
Third Place, Carter Woodiel, University of Missouri, $5,000 award

NATIONAL TELEVISION CHAMPIONSHIP
First Place, Alexa Lorenzo, University of Florida, $10,000 award
Second Place, Anne Marie Hagerty, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $7,500 award
Third Place, Eytan Wallace, University of Southern California, $5,000 award

NATIONAL MULTIMEDIA CHAMPIONSHIP
First Place, Robert Gourley, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, $10,000 award
Second Place, Tyler Schank, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, $7,500 award
Third Place, Drea Cornejo, University of Florida, $5,000 award

Finalists in the Championship are:

Four finalists in the Writing Championship, who will each receive $1,500 scholarships (listed in alphabetical order):
Chris Bowling, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Kenny Jacoby, University of Oregon
Marcella Mercer, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Jesse Scheckner, Florida International University

The $1,000 Award for Best Article of the Year went to Marcella Mercer, University of Nebraska-Lincoln;
Best Reporting Technique Award of $1,000 went to Jack Evans, Indiana University.
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):
Joel Angel Juárez, San Francisco State University
Moriah Grace Ratner, Syracuse University
Kayla Wolf, University of Missouri

The $1,000 Award for Best Portfolio went to Alex Driehaus, Ohio University.
The Single Photo Award of $1,000 went to Kayla Wolf, University of Missouri.
Those awards were selected from the semi-final portfolios.

Two finalists in the Radio Broadcast News Championship, who will each receive $1,500 scholarships (listed in alphabetical order):
Elissa Candiotti, Syracuse University
Dolores Hinckley, University of Florida

The $1,000 Award for Best Use of Radio for News Coverage went to Jay Siebold, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This award was selected from the monthly radio entries.

Two finalists in the Television Broadcast News Championship, who will each receive $1,500 scholarships (listed in alphabetical order):
Lillian Donahue, Arizona State University
Brandon Etheredge, Auburn University

The Best Use of Television for News Coverage Award of $1,000 went to Anne Marie Hagerty, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This award was selected from the semi-final entries.

Two finalists in the Multimedia Championship, who will receive $1,500 scholarship (listed in alphabetical order):
Ty Boespflug, University of Oregon
Srijita Chattopadhyay, Western Kentucky University

The $1,000 Award for Best Multimedia Story of the Year went to Robert Gourley, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill for his story “Don’t Think Twice”. This award was selected from the monthly competition entries.

The writing judges were: Audrey Cooper, Editor in Chief, The San Francisco Chronicle; David Zeeck, President and Publisher, The News Tribune, WA.

The photojournalism judges were: Erin Lubin, freelance photographer, San Francisco; Lisa Krantz, Staff Photographer, San Antonio Express-News; Dai Sugano, Staff Photographer/Senior Multimedia Editor, The Mercury News.

The radio and television judges were: Julie Chin, News Director, KNX Radio, Los Angeles, CA; Lloyd Siegel, former Vice President of News Partnerships, NBC News, NY; and Fred Young, retired Senior Vice President of News, Hearst Television Inc., Yardley, PA.

The multimedia Judges were: Kenny Irby, Independent Visual Consultant, FL; Mark Morris, former Senior Editor/Multimedia, The Sacramento Bee; and Brian Storm, Founder & Executive Producer, MediaStorm.

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 $13 million in scholarships and grants for the very best work by student journalists.