HEARST TELEVISION FEATURES WINNERS NAMED
San Francisco – The William Randolph Hearst Foundation announces the top 10 winners in 2020-2021 Television Features Competition in the 61st Annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program. 103 undergraduate journalism
programs at universities across the nation are eligible to participate in the competitions.
The winners were selected from 97 entries from 63 schools submitted in the first of two television competitions.
First Place has been awarded to Joe Freihofer, a senior from Michigan State University.
Joe wins a $3,000 scholarship and qualifies for the National Television Championship which will be held in June 2021.
The other top ten finalists and their awards are:
Second Place, $2,000 award, Annabel Thorpe, University of Missouri
Third Place, $1,500 award, Luke Hajdasz, University of Connecticut
Fourth Place, $1,000 award, Sydney Wicker, Colorado State University
Fifth Place, $1,000 award, Piper Cassetto, Murray State University
Sixth Place, certificate, Chris O’Brien, University of Florida
Seventh Place, certificate, Joseph Carson, Brigham Young University
Eighth Place, certificate, Marco Ramirez, University of Texas at Austin
Ninth Place, certificate, Jack Hirsh, Pennsylvania State University
Tenth Place, certificate, Gianna DaPra, Kent State University
The top five winning schools receive matching grants.
The following four finalists qualify for the semi-final round:
Annabel Thorpe, University of Missouri
Luke Hajdasz, University of Connecticut
Sydney Wicker, Colorado State University
Piper Cassetto, Murray State University
These finalists along with the top four from the second television competition will be chosen to participate in the semi-final round. From that competition, four finalists will compete in the National Television Championship.
Michigan State University is in first place in the Intercollegiate Broadcast Competition with the highest
accumulated student points from the first of three broadcast competitions.
It is followed by: University of Florida; University of Texas at Austin; University of Missouri; University of
Connecticut; Kent State University; Howard University (tie); Colorado State University (tie); Syracuse
University (tie); Murray State University (tie).
The top three intercollegiate winners earn $10,000, $4,000 and $2,000 respectively, and will be announced after the completion of the audio and second television competition in April.
The television judges are: Candy Altman, retired Vice President of News, Hearst Television, NY; Holly Quan,
Reporter/Anchor, KCBS Radio, CA; Joe Rovitto, President, Clemensen & Rovitto LLC, PA.
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program also includes five writing, one audio, two photo, and four multimedia competitions offering up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends.
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program added broadcast journalism to the competitions in 1988. The program also includes five writing, two photojournalism and four multimedia competitions offering up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends. There are 103 universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs are eligible to participate in the Hearst competitions.
