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 2026-2027 Hearst Journalism Awards Program.

Writing Judges

Suki Dardarian

Retired journalist
Former editor
Minnesota Star Tribune

Emilio Garcia-Ruiz

Editor in Chief
San Francisco Chronicle

Karen Peterson

Former Editor
Tampa Bay Times

Photojournalism Judges

David Guzman

Director of Visual Journalism
DMN Daily Print Newsroom

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

Scott Herman

Chair
Broadcasters Foundation of America

Barbara Maushard

Senior VP & Chief Content Officer
Hearst Television

Multimedia Judges

Lauren Frohne

Lead Video Journalist
The Seattle Times

Ed Ou

Visual Journalist
Reuters

Jim Seida

Former Producer
NBC News