WKU News

WKU students honored in photojournalism, writing contests

WKU’s School of Media has won the Hearst Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition for the seventh straight year and the 29^th time in the past 34 years, and three WKU students earned awards in Hearst photojournalism and writing competitions.

WKU had the highest accumulated student points in the two photo competitions of the 2022-2023 Hearst Journalism Awards Program and will receive a $10,000 award. The other top 10 photojournalism finishers were University of Iowa, University of Oregon, Michigan State University, Ohio University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Florida, Pennsylvania State University, Elon University, and University of Montana.

Kennedy Gott, a December graduate from Bowling Green, finished first in the Photojournalism Picture Story/Series Competition. Gott received a $3,000 scholarship and qualified for the National Photojournalism Championship that will take place in San Francisco in June. WKU’s School of Media receives a matching award. (View photos.)

Gabi Broekema, a senior from Bowling Green, finished eighth in the competition and will submit additional photos for a semifinal round of judging.

In the Personality/Profile Writing Competition, Ellie Sandlin, a junior from Russellville, finished fifth and received a $1,000 award for her WKU Talisman story From the Magazine: Forged in Fire.

In March, Gott won the Hearst program’s Multimedia Innovative Storytelling and Audience Engagement Competition and qualified for the National Multimedia Championship.

Often called “The Pulitzers of college journalism,” the Hearst Journalism Awards Program, now in its 63rd year, includes two photojournalism, five writing, one audio, two television, and four multimedia competitions offering up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends; 105 member universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs are eligible to participate in the Hearst competitions.

In the Hearst Overall Intercollegiate Competition, WKU’s School of Media has finished in the top five nationally for 13 consecutive years and has placed in the top eight for 29 straight years with four overall championships in 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2018.

In 2021-2022, WKU finished fourth in the overall competition, won the Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition and placed second in the Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition.

WKU students have won 15 Hearst individual national championships since 1985 — photojournalism in 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2016; multimedia in 2015; writing in 1985; and radio news in 2006.

The Hearst program added multimedia in 2010; WKU has won the multimedia championship eight times.

Contact: School of Media, (270) 745-4144

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Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, our students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.