2015 – 2016 Photojournalism Winners
From the 200 entries received in the two photojournalism competitions this year, 12 top entrants qualified for the semi-final round of judging. For this round, the semi-finalists submitted portfolios which included portraits, features, sports shots, news pieces, singles and a picture story. After much deliberation, the program judges selected six finalists to attend the Hearst National Photojournalism Championship held in San Francisco. Monday, May 30th, shortly after arriving in San Francisco, the photo finalists met the judges for orientation, portfolio review and to receive their assignments. This year’s assignment was to do a photo story showing San Francisco’s demographic transformation due to high real estate and rent prices and a single news image. The photojournalists had a day and a half to shoot and edit their photos before their Wednesday deadline of 5:30 p.m. Thursday morning, the judges reviewed the submissions and selected their top choices. The winners were announced at that evening’s awards ceremony.
The first-through-third place winners were awarded scholarships of $5,000, $4,000, and $3,000 respectively. The three finalists earned $1,500 scholarship awards. In addition, two $1,000 awards were presented for Best Portfolio and Best Single Photo, selected from the semi-final entries. The winners and finalists are featured below.
