WKU News

Western Kentucky University’s School of Media continued its tradition of success in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program with a third-place finish in the 2022-2023 Overall Intercollegiate Competition.

WKU has finished in the top five nationally for 14 consecutive years and has placed in the top eight for 30 straight years with four overall championships in 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2018.

In this year’s Hearst program, WKU won the Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition and tied for first in the Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition. The School of Media will receive two $10,000 awards.

The top 10 schools in the Overall Intercollegiate Competition are University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Florida, WKU, University of Missouri, Pennsylvania University, Syracuse University, Arizona State University, University of Montana, Indiana University, and University of Iowa.

The awards will be presented June 6 at the Intercollegiate Awards Presentation in San Francisco.

Two recent WKU photojournalism graduates will compete in the Hearst program’s National Writing, Photojournalism, Audio, Television and Multimedia Championships June 2-8 in San Francisco.

Kennedy Gott, a December graduate from Bowling Green, is one of six finalists for the Photojournalism National Championship, while Allie Schallert, a May graduate from New Windsor, New York, is one of five finalists for the Multimedia National Championship.

Four WKU graduates also earned awards in the final multimedia competition of 2022-2023.

In the Multimedia Team Digital News/Enterprise Story Team Competition, WKU graduates Sam Mallon of Silver Spring, Maryland, and Jordan Matthis of Owensboro placed fourth for Unconditional, while WKU graduates Zane Meyer-Thornton of Los Angeles, California, and Addison LeBoutillier of Owensboro placed fifth for Crux. Both teams and WKU’s School of Media received $1,000 awards.

In the Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition, WKU and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill tied for first with the highest accumulated student points from the four competitions. Both schools will receive $10,000 awards.

WKU has won the Hearst multimedia championship nine times since it was added in 2010 and has won the photojournalism championship for seven straight years and 29 times in the past 34 years.

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.

Often called “The Pulitzers of college journalism,” the Hearst Journalism Awards Program 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.

The 2022-2023 Hearst Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition top 10 finishers are: WKU and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (tie); University of Florida, University of Southern California, Syracuse University, University of Missouri, Pennsylvania State University, San Francisco State University, Brigham Young University (tie), and Florida International University (tie).

The 2022-2023 Hearst Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition top 10 finishers are: WKU, 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.

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

- WKU -

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.