2020 HEARST WRITING CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERS ANNOUNCED
The William Randolph Hearst Foundation has announced the eight journalism students from across the country who will compete in the 60th annual National Writing Championships. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the
in-person Championship has been cancelled, and in its place will be a virtual event. The finalists include five top winners in the monthly writing competitions and three entrants with the highest accumulated scores from two competitions, selected from 652 writing entries submitted this year.
During the Championship Week, the finalists will fulfill spots assignments for additional scholarship awards
ranging from $1,500 to $10,000. Also competing in the National Championships will be six photojournalism
finalists, five radio finalists, five television finalists and five multimedia finalists.
The 2020 National Writing Championship finalists are:
Caroline Anders, Indiana University
Matt Cohen, Indiana University
Hannah Denham, Washington & Lee University
David Eckert, Pennsylvania State University
Jack Harris, Arizona State University
Jordan Miller, University of Oklahoma
George Stoia, University of Oklahoma
Sasha Urban, University of Southern California
Judging the writing competitions this year 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.
Funded and administered for 60 years by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the program is under the
auspices of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication. Presently, 104 colleges and
universities with accredited undergraduate journalism schools are eligible to participate in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program.
The 14 monthly competitions of the Hearst Journalism Awards Program consist of five writing, two
photojournalism, one radio, two television and four multimedia, with Championship finals in all divisions. The
program awards up to $700,000 in scholarships and grants annually.
