WKU News

WKU student Gabriel Scarlett finished third in the 2018 Hearst National Photojournalism Championship.

Scarlett, a junior photojournalism major from Maumee, Ohio, was one of six photojournalism finalists and received a $5,000 award.

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program’s national championships in writing, photography, radio, television and multimedia were held June 3-6 in San Francisco.

Srijita Chattopadhyay, a senior from India, was one of five national multimedia finalists and received a $1,500 award.

WKU won its fourth overall national championship, often called “The Pulitzers of college journalism,” in the 2017-18 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. WKU also won the multimedia title for the seventh straight year and the photojournalism title for the 24^th time in the past 29 years and finished fifth in the writing competition.

During the Hearst program’s awards ceremony on June 5, WKU’s School of Journalism & Broadcasting received a $25,000 award for the overall championship and $10,000 awards for the multimedia and photojournalism championships.

WKU, which won overall titles in 2000, 2001 and 2005, has finished in the top three overall for nine straight years and in the top eight nationally for 25 straight years.

The top 10 finishers in the 2018 Hearst overall championship were WKU, first; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, second; Pennsylvania State University, third; University of Florida, fourth; University of Nebraska-Lincoln, fifth; Syracuse University, sixth; University of Missouri, seventh; Indiana University, eighth; Arizona State University, ninth; and Ohio University, 10^th.

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program, in its 58th year, consists of five writing, two photojournalism, one radio, 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.

Contact: School of Journalism & Broadcasting, (270) 745-4144