San Francisco – Winners have been announced in the Photojournalism Picture Story/Series Competition of the 2025-2026 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. The winners were selected from 82 entries from 49
schools submitted in the second photo competition of the year.
First Place has been awarded to Annie George, a senior from University of Missouri. Annie wins a $3,000 scholarship and qualifies for the National Photojournalism Championship in June 2026.
Second Place, $2,000 award, Ben Pennington, Ohio University
Third Place, $1,500 award, Christian Kantosky, University of Kentucky
Fourth Place, $1,000 award, Bradi Hawkins, Western Kentucky University
Fifth Place, $1,000 award, Ben Hanson, California State University, Northridge
The top five winning schools will receive matching grants.
Sixth-through-tenth place finalists:
Sixth Place, certificate, Grace Richards, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Seventh Place, certificate, Ari Saperstein, Michigan State University
Eighth Place, certificate, Marley Barboeisel, University of Montana
Ninth Place, certificate, Blake Fagan, California State University, Northridge
Tenth Place, certificate, Ike Wood, Syracuse University
The University of Montana has won the Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition with the highest
student points from the two photo competitions.
They are followed by:
California State University, Northridge
University of Missouri
Pennsylvania State University
Ohio University
University of Kentucky
Michigan State University (tie)
Western Kentucky University (tie)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Oregon
The top three intercollegiate winners earn $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 respectively, which will be presented
during the National Championships in June.
The photojournalism judges are: Danny Gawlowski, Senior Manager, Communications and Policy, Carbon to Sea; and Elodie Mailliet Storm, CEO, CatchLight; Boyzell Hosey, Senior Editor for Visual Storytelling, ProPublica.
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program introduced photojournalism to its competitions in 1970. Now in its 66th year, the program includes four writing competitions, two photojournalism competitions, one audio, two
television, one podcast, and four multimedia competitions. Together, they offer up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants, and stipends. Currently, 104 universities with accredited undergraduate journalism programs—members of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication—are eligible to participate in the Hearst competitions.
