2017 National Championship

May 29 – June 2, 2017

The 57th annual Hearst National Journalism Awards Championship was the culmination of the 2016-2017 monthly competitions. 29 finalists with top scores from the 1,267 competition entries gathered in San Francisco to demonstrate their skills in on-the-spot assignments and compete for additional scholarship awards of up to $5,000. The writing, photojournalism, radio broadcast, television broadcast and multimedia finalists, along with program judges, journalism deans, and special guests convened for this special event.

The eight writing finalists interviewed San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera. They wrote a news story based on the interview and a personality/profile article about Mr. Herrera. In addition, they were assigned to write an on-the-spot article addressing how President Donald Trump’s tougher stance on immigration law enforcement has impacted people or places in San Francisco.

The six photo finalists were given two assignments: A picture story exploring family and relationships and an enterprise single on the theme of “no place like home.”

The five radio and five television finalists’ assignment was to tell a story about political partisanship in the “age of Trump.”

The five multimedia finalists’ assignment to compare and contrast at least two points of view in the Bay Area on a given quality of life issue.

The judges reviewed the finalists’ pieces Thursday, June 1st, and the winners were announced that evening at the final awards ceremony.