San Francisco – Winners have been announced in the 2023-2024 Hearst Journalism Awards Program’s Audio News/Features Competition. There were 70 entries from 41 universities submitted in this competition.

Five audio winners qualify for the National Championships in June, along with qualifying television, writing,
photojournalism and multimedia finalists.

The top audio winners are:
First Place, $3,000 award, Sierra Pfeifer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Second Place, $2,000 award, Henry Taylor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Third Place, $1,500 award, Jonah Krueger, Ohio University
Fourth Place, $1,000 award, Yaw Bonsu, Hofstra University
Fifth Place, $1,000 award, Ronnie Parrillo, Syracuse University
The schools of the top five award-winning finalists receive matching grants.

The five finalists who qualify for the 2024 National Audio Championship this June are:
Sierra Pfeifer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Henry Taylor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Yaw Bonsu, Hofstra University
Ronnie Parrillo, Syracuse University
Kai Williams, University of Montana

The sixth-through-tenth place finalists are:
Sixth Place, certificate, Kai Williams, University of Montana
Seventh Place, certificate, Amelia Bridges, Louisiana State University
Eighth Place, certificate, Tessa Kresch, Michigan State University
Ninth Place, certificate, Halle Jackson, University of Missouri
Tenth Place, certificate, Sophia Holm, University of Nevada, Reno

Syracuse University leads in first place in the Intercollegiate Broadcast Competition with the highest accumulated student points from the Television One and Audio Broadcast Competitions held this year.
They are followed by: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; University of Florida; University of Missouri;
Pennsylvania State University; Arizona State University; University of Maryland; Ohio University;
Hofstra University (tie); University of Montana (tie); University of Nebraska-Lincoln (tie).

The top three intercollegiate winners earn $10,000, $4,000 and $2,000 respectively, and will be announced after the completion of the second television competition in April.

The audio judges are: Candy Altman, retired Vice President of News, Hearst Television; Holly Quan, Reporter
/Anchor, KCBS Radio; Jeff Bartlett, retired President and General Manager, WMUR-TV.

The 64th annual 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 105 universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs are eligible to
participate in the Hearst competitions.

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