San Francisco, CA — The William Randolph Hearst Foundation has announced the winners of the 66th National Championships, the culmination of the 2025–2026 Journalism Awards Program.
The annual Hearst Championships brought together 29 outstanding student journalists from colleges and
universities across the United States. These finalists earned their places in the Championship by producing work judged to be among the best of the 1,353 entries submitted to the 14 monthly Hearst Journalism Awards
competitions held throughout the academic year.
From May 30 through June 5, 2026, the finalists gathered in San Francisco to complete a series of spot
assignments under deadline conditions. Their work was evaluated by leading media professionals serving
as program judges, who selected the national champions and top finishers in each competition category.
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program, often referred to as the “Pulitzers of College Journalism,” recognizes and rewards excellence in student journalism while providing aspiring journalists with opportunities to showcase their talents before industry leaders.
National Writing Championship
First Place, $10,000 award: Livia Ziskey, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Second Place, $7,500 award: Claire Bernard, University of Montana
Third Place, $5,000 award: Grace Lewis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Writing Finalists – $1,500 each:
Gregory Finberg, Pennsylvania State University
Jessica Garcete, University of Florida
Claire Huss, University of Maryland
Michael Reo, University of Southern California
Gage C. Wellman, Kent State University
National Photojournalism Championship
First Place, $10,000 award: Maddie McCuddy, University of Montana
Second Place, $7,500 award: Ari Saperstein, Michigan State University
Third Place, $5,000 award: Annie George, University of Missouri
Photo Finalists – $1,500 each:
Blake Fagan, California State University, Northridge
Ben Pennington, Ohio University
National Audio Championship
First Place, $10,000 award: Julia Boboc, University of Oregon
Second Place, $7,500 award: Evan Fay, Syracuse University
Third Place, $5,000 award: Maddie Policastro, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Audio Finalists – $1,500 each:
Boone Kilpatrick, Syracuse University
Erika Konig, University of Memphis
National Television Championship
First Place, $10,000 award: Lauren Morris, Temple University
Second Place, $7,500 award: Bernie Montás, University of Florida
Third Place, $5,000 award: Abigail Klinkerman, University of Missouri
Television Finalists – $1,500 each:
Juan Carlos Chaoui, University of Florida
Charlotte Cicero, University of Missouri
National Multimedia Championship
First Place, $10,000 award: Aayas D. Joshi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Second Place, $7,500 award: Amelie Fawson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Third Place, $5,000 award: Nithya Sunkara Indlamuri, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Multimedia Finalists – $1,500 each:
Nicole Borman, University of Florida
Myah Griffin, Western Kentucky University
National Podcast Championship
Finalist – $1,500:
Phoebe Gulsen, Syracuse University
Championship Judges
Writing judges: Sue Campbell, Editor, Food and Culture, Minnesota Star Tribune; Suki Dardarian, retired journalist/former editor, Minnesota Star Tribune; Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, Editor in Chief, San Francisco Chronicle.
Photojournalism judges: Danny Gawlowski, Senior Manager, Communications and Policy, Carbon to Sea; and Elodie Mailliet Storm, CEO, CatchLight; Boyzell Hosey, Senior Editor for Visual Storytelling, ProPublica.
Audio, television and podcast judges: Candy Altman, retired Vice President of News at Hearst Television; Jeff Bartlett, retired President and General Manager of WMUR-TV; and Scott Herman, Chairman, Broadcasters Foundation of America.
Multimedia Judges: Lauren Frohne, Lead Video Journalist, The Seattle Times; Jim Seida, Former Producer, NBC News; Ed Ou, Reuters/Visual Journalist/Documentary Filmmaker.
About the Hearst Foundations The William Randolph Hearst Foundation was established by its namesake in 1948 under California non-profit laws, exclusively for educational and charitable purposes. Since then, the Hearst Foundations have contributed over 1.6 billion dollars to numerous educational programs, health and medical care, human services and the arts in every state.
Founded in 1960, the Hearst Journalism Awards Program supports, encourages, and advances journalism education through scholarships awarded to outstanding undergraduate college students. Since its inception, the program has distributed nearly $19 million in scholarships and grants recognizing exceptional work by student journalists. The program receives entries from students at 104 accredited undergraduate journalism programs affiliated with the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC).
