In 1960, Randolph A. Hearst and his brother William R. Hearst, Jr. named the first program judges. The judges are professional journalists/editors whose valuable time and talents are generously volunteered to the program each year.

Over the course of their terms, the judges review the work of thousands of students across the country. Judges are sent the entries and evaluate the work based on a point system. The assigned points are sent to the Foundation which announces the winners and disperses the scholarships and grants to the winning
students and schools.

The following is the list of judges who evaluate the monthly and Championship entries in the writing,
photojournalism, television, audio, podcast and multimedia competitions of the 2025-2026 Hearst Journalism Awards Program.

Writing Judges

Sue Campbell

Editorial/Food 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
Carbo to Sea

Boyzel Hosey

Senior Editor for Visual Storytelling
ProPublica

Elodie Mailliet Storm

CEO
CatchLight

Audio, Television, Podcast Judges

Candy Altman

Retired Vice President of News
Hearst Television

Jeff Bartlett

Retired President & General Manager
WMUR-TV

Scott Herman

Chair
Broadcasters Foundation of America

Multimedia Judges

Lauren Frohne

Lead Video Journalist
The Seattle Times

Ed Ou

Visual Journalist/Documentary Filmmaker

Jim Seida

Producer
NBC News