60th Annual Hearst National Championship Winners Announced
Winning college journalists in the National Writing, Photojournalism, Radio, Television and Multimedia
Championships were announced on June 5, 2020 by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation’s Journalism Awards
Program.
The Hearst Championships are the culmination of the 2019 – 2020 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 May 29 – June 4, 2020, 29 finalists – winners from the 14 monthly competitions – participated in the 60th annual Hearst Championships.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the in-person Championship planned for Houston, Texas was replaced by a virtual event. Finalists met their judges and received their assignments over video-conference meetings, then produced and submitted their pieces from home.
Following are the winners and the scholarships they received:
National Writing Championship
First Place, $10,000 award: Caroline Anders, Indiana University
Second Place, $7,500 award: Hannah Denham, Washington and Lee University
Third Place, $5,000 award: George Stoia, University of Oklahoma
Writing Championship runner-ups listed in alphabetical order:
Matt Cohen, Indiana University, $1,500 award
David Eckert, Pennsylvania State University, $1,500 award
Jack Harris, Arizona State University, $1,500 award
Jordan Miller, University of Oklahoma, $1,500 award
Sasha Urban, University of Southern California, $1,500 award
National Photojournalism Championship
First Place, $10,000 award: Michael Swensen, Ohio University
Second Place, $7,500 award: Katina Zentz, University of Iowa
Third Place, $5,000 award: Kenneth Ferriera, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Photo Championship runners-up listed in alphabetical order:
Nic Antaya, Michigan State University, $1,500 award
Nathaniel Bailey, Kent State University, $1,500 award
Lily Thompson, Western Kentucky University, $1,500 award
National Radio Broadcast News Championship
First Place, $10,000 award: Annabeth Poe, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Second Place, $7,500 award: Sofia Mingote, University of Florida
Third Place, $5,000 award: Jared Weber, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Radio Championship runners-up listed in alphabetical order:
Jonah Hrkal, Arizona State University, $1,500 award
Allie Snow, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, $1,500 award
National Television Broadcast News Championship
First Place, $10,000 award: Payton Tysinger, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Second Place, $7,500 award: Dylan McKim, Arizona State University
Third Place, $5,000 award: Cambria Haro, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Television Championship runners-up listed in alphabetical order:
Spencer Humphrey, University of Missouri, $1,500 award
Valerie Lyons, University Florida, $1,500 award
National Multimedia Championship
First Place, $10,000 award: Jiakai Lou, University of Montana
Second Place, $7,500 award: Mackenzie Behm, University of Florida
Third Place, $5,000 award: Colin Davy, Syracuse University
Multimedia Championship runners-up listed in alphabetical order:
Neda Karimi, Stony Brook University, $1,500 award
Lucas Pruitt, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, $1,500 award
Special Awards
$1,000 award for Best Article of the Year went to Hannah Denham, Washington and Lee University.
$1000 award for Best Reporting Technique went to Sasha Urban, University of Southern California.
Those awards were selected from the monthly writing competition entries.
$1,000 award for Best Single Photo from the Semi-Final Portfolio when to Lily Thompson,
Western Kentucky University.
$1,000 award for Best Single Photo from the Championship Assignment went to Michael Swensen,
Ohio University.
$1,000 Award for Best Use of Radio for News Coverage went to Allie Snow, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
This award was selected from the monthly radio entries.
$1,000 Award for Best Use of Television for News Coverage went to Cambria Haro, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This award was selected from the semi-final entries.
$1,000 Award for Best Multimedia Story of the Year went to Colin Davy, Syracuse 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 Larry Kramer, Retired President and Publisher, USA Today.
The photojournalism judges were: Carolyn Cole, Foreign National Photo Correspondent, Los Angeles Times;
Mark Morris, Independent Visual Consultant; Sue Morrow, Editor, News Photographer Magazine; Luis Rios, Director of Photography, San Antonio Express-News.
The radio and television judges were: Candy Altman, retired Vice President News, Hearst Television; Julie Chin, News Director, KNX Radio; Mary Lynn Roper, retired President and General Manager, KOAT-TV; and Fred Young,
retired Senior Vice President of News, Hearst Television.
The multimedia Judges were: Jarrad Henderson, Senior Multimedia Producer – Investigative and Enterprise Video Team, USA Today; Danese Kenon, Director of Video and Photography, Philadelphia Inquirer; 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 support, encourage and give assistance to journalism education through scholarships for outstanding college students. Since its inception, the program has
distributed more than $14 million in scholarships and grants for the exceptional work by student journalists who participate in the program.
