San Francisco – Winners have been announced in the Personality/Profile Writing Competition of the 2024-2025 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. The winners were selected from 127 entries from 72 schools submitted in the third writing competition of the year.
First Place has been awarded to Nicole Blevins, a senior from Indiana University.
Nicole wins a $3,000 scholarship for the article “ ‘We deserve to stay’ – Dreamer faces uncertainty as election
approaches.” Nicole also qualifies for the National Writing Championship in June 2025.
Second Place, $2,000 award, Marshall Baker, Arizona State University
Third Place, $1,500 award, Hanna Maglio, University of Florida
Fourth Place, $1,000 award, Isabella Reilly, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Fifth Place, $1,000 award, Mia Hilkowitz, Indiana University
The top five winning schools will receive matching grants.
Sixth-through-tenth place finalists:
Sixth Place, certificate, Laura Augenbraun, University of Connecticut
Seventh Place, certificate, Jami Martin-Trainor, University of Iowa
Eighth Place, certificate, Lauren Penington, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Ninth Place, certificate, Estelle Jarrett, University of Connecticut
Tenth Place, certificate, Emma Kelly, Pennsylvania State University
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is in first place in the Intercollegiate Writing Competition with the highest accumulated student points from the three writing competitions held thus far. They are followed by: University of Florida; Arizona State University; University of Iowa (tie); Indiana University (tie); University of Oregon; Texas Christian University; University of Connecticut; Pennsylvania State University; University of Nebraska-Lincoln (tie); Michigan State University (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 last writing competition and presented during the National Championships in San Francisco this June.
The writing judges are: Maria Reeve, Managing Editor/Vice President, The Star Tribune; Sue Campbell, Managing Editor, Features, The Star Tribune; David Callaway, Founder and Editor, Callaway Climate Insights.
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.
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