2019 Hearst National Championship Winners Announced

2019 HEARST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS ANNOUNCED

San Francisco – Winning college journalists in the National Writing, Photojournalism, Radio, Television and Multimedia Championships were announced on June 5, 2019 by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation’s Journalism Awards Program, during the final awards ceremony at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco.

The Hearst Championships are the culmination of the 2018 – 2019 Journalism Awards Program, which were held in 104 member universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs.

From June 1 through June 5, 29 finalists – all winners from the 14 monthly competitions – participated in the 59th 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, James Crabtree-Hannigan, University of Maryland, $10,000 award
Second Place, Caroline Anders, Indiana University, $7,500 award
Third Place, Lydia Gerike, Indiana University, $5,000 award

NATIONAL PHOTOJOURNALISM CHAMPIONSHIP
First Place, Alex Kormann, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $10,000 award
Second Place, Josie Norris, Central Michigan University, $7,500 award
Third Place, James Wooldridge, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, $5,000 award

NATIONAL RADIO BROADCAST NEWS CHAMPIONSHIP
First Place, Dolores Hinckley, University of Florida, $10,000 award
Second Place, Megan Cain, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $7,500 award
Third Place, Brighton McConnell, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $5,000 award

NATIONAL TELEVISION BROADCAST NEWS CHAMPIONSHIP
First Place, David J. Jones, University of Florida, $10,000 award
Second Place, Bryce Newberry, Arizona State University, $7,500 award
Third Place, Matt Lively, Arizona State University, $5,000 award

NATIONAL MULTIMEDIA CHAMPIONSHIP
First Place, Darian Woehr, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $10,000 award
Second Place, Skyler Ballard, Western Kentucky University, $7,500 award
Third Place, Abby Cantrell, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $5,000 award

Finalists in the Championship are:

Five finalists in the Writing Championship, who will each receive $1,500 scholarships
(listed in alphabetical order):
Laurel Demkovich, Indiana University
Jack Harris, Arizona State University
Eduardo Medina, Auburn University
Michael Tobin, University of Oregon
Sarah Verschoor, Indiana University

The $1,000 Award for Best Article of the Year went to Michael Tobin, University of Oregon;
Best Reporting Technique Award of $1,000 went to Caroline Anders, 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):
Liz Moughon, Ohio University
Nicole Neri, Arizona State University
Gabriel Scarlett, Western Kentucky University

Both the $1,000 Award for Best Portfolio and the Single Photo Award of $1,000 went to Alex Kormann, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 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):
Aviva Okeson-Haberman, University of Missouri
Austin Westfall, Arizona State University

The $1,000 Award for Best Use of Radio for News Coverage went to Brighton McConnell, 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):
Grace King, University of Florida
Meredith Sheldon, University Florida

The Best Use of Television for News Coverage Award of $1,000 went to Bryce Newberry, Arizona State University. 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):
Mackenzie Behm, University of Florida
Kathryn Ziesig, Western Kentucky University

The $1,000 Award for Best Multimedia Story of the Year went to Skyler Ballard, Western Kentucky University. This award was selected from the monthly competition entries.

The writing judges were: Audrey Cooper, Editor in Chief, The San Francisco Chronicle; Dwayne Bray, Senior Coordinating Producer/Enterprise Reporting Unit, ESPN; and David Zeeck, former President and Publisher, The News Tribune, WA.

The photojournalism judges were: Erin Lubin, Freelance Photographer, San Francisco; Dai Sugano, Staff Photographer/Senior Multimedia Editor, The Mercury News; and Jose Luis Rios, Director of Photography, San Antonio Express-News.

The radio and television judges were: Julie Chin, News Director, KNX Radio, 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: Danese Kenon, Director of Video and Photography, The Philadelphia Inquirer, PA; Mark Morris, Independent Visual Consultant, CA; 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.