2024 Writing Championship
From the 606 writing entries received in the 2023-2024 writing competitions, the following finalists’ competition articles qualified them for the Hearst National Writing
Championship, where they competed for additional scholarship awards.
On Sunday June 2, shortly after arriving in San Francisco, the finalists met with the judges for orientation and assignments. This year, the finalists were asked to write two articles: a news story from an interview with former secretary of Defense Mr. Leon Panetta, and an article about the following topic: “How are local companies developing new
technologies that are changing how we live and work in this ever-evolving region of San Francisco and Silicon Valley.”
The judges received the finalists’ articles Wednesday evening, and the winners were announced at the awards ceremony on Thursday.
The first-through-third place winners were awarded scholarships of $10,000, $7,500, and $5,000 respectively. The five finalists earned $1,500 scholarships.
Two finalists received additional $1,000 awards for Article of the Year and Best Reporting Technique for pieces submitted in the monthly competitions. This year, a third special award – Best Written – was selected from the monthly competition entries as well.
The winners and finalists are featured below.
Winners
University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
$7,500 scholarship
Finalists
Additional Awards
University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill
$1,000 scholarship
