Hearst Multimedia Innovative Journalism Competition Winners Announced
San Francisco – Winners have been announced in the Innovative Journalism Competition of the 2024-2025 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. The winners were selected from 39 entries from 27 schools submitted in the second multimedia competition of the year.
First Place has been awarded to Brett Phelps, a senior from Western Kentucky University. Brett wins a $3,000 scholarship for the piece titled “A New Road to Travel.” Brett also qualifies for the National Multimedia Championship in June 2025.
Second Place, $2,000 award, Max Feliu, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Third Place, $1,500 award, Madeline Powell, Western Kentucky University
Fourth Place, $1,000 award, Gerard Millman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Fifth Place, $1,000 award, Murphy McFarlane, Syracuse University
The top five winning schools will receive matching grants.
Sixth-through-tenth place finalists:
Sixth Place, certificate, Rita Sabler, University of Oregon
Seventh Place, certificate, Julia Zara, University of Southern California
Eighth Place, certificate, Abigail Landwehr, University of Missouri
Ninth Place, certificate, Ethan Huang, University of Southern California
Tenth Place, certificate, Aidan Maher, University of Nevada, Reno
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is in first place in the Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition with the highest accumulated student points in the first two multimedia competitions held thus far this year.
They are followed by:
Western Kentucky University
University of Nevada, Reno
Syracuse University (tie)
Michigan State University (tie)
University of Southern California
University of Maryland
University of Montana
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
University of Florida (tie)
University of Missouri (tie)
The top three intercollegiate winners earn $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 respectively. The final intercollegiate winners will be announced after the completion of the four multimedia competitions and presented during the National Championships in San Francisco this June.
The multimedia judges are: Robert Scheer, Deputy Managing Editor for Visuals, Post & Courier; Lauren Frohne, Lead Video Journalist, The Seattle Times; Jim Seida, Producer, NBC News.
The 65th annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program includes four writing, two photo, one audio, two television, one podcast and four multimedia competitions offering up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends. Currently, 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.
