WKU News

San Francisco – Winners have been announced in the Photojournalism I– News and Features Competition of the 2019-2020 Hearst Journalism Awards Program.

The winners were selected from 138 entries submitted from 75 schools nationwide. The first-place winner qualifies for the National Photojournalism Championship which will be held in Houston, TX next June. The other top winners in this competition, along with the top finalists in the next photo competition, will submit additional photographs for the semi-final round of judging in April.

Finalists will be chosen from that round to compete in the National Championship, along with writing, radio, television and multimedia finalists.

First Place has been awarded to Nic Antaya from Michigan State University.
Nic wins a $3,000 scholarship and qualifies for the National Photojournalism Championship.

Other top winners who qualify for the semi-final round:
Second Place, $2,000 award, Sara Diggins, University of Montana
Third Place, $1,500 award, Nicole Neri, Arizona State University
Fourth Place, $1,000 award, Haley France, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Fifth Place, $1,000 award, Matthew Westmoreland, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The top five winning schools receive matching grants.

The sixth-through-tenth place finalists are:
Sixth Place, certificate, Michael Blackshire, Western Kentucky University
Seventh Place, certificate, Silas Walker, Western Kentucky University
Eighth Place, certificate, Sylvia Jarrus, Michigan State University
Ninth Place, certificate, Meg Potter, Arizona State University
Tenth Place, certificate, Troy Stolt, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Michigan State University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are tied for first place in the Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition with the highest accumulated student points from the first of two photo competitions.

They are followed by: Western Kentucky University; Arizona State University; University of Montana; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; University of Tennessee at Chattanooga; University of Oklahoma; University of Kentucky; Ball State University. The final Intercollegiate winners are announced in April. The top three intercollegiate winners earn $10,000, $4,000 and $2,000 respectively.

The photojournalism judges are Carolyn Cole, Foreign National Photo Correspondent, The Los Angeles Times, CA; Mark Morris, Independent Visual Consultant, CA; Luis Rios, Director of Photography, San Antonio Express-News, TX.

The 60th annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program, added photojournalism to the competitions in 1970. The program also includes five writing, one radio, two television, and four multimedia competitions offering up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends.

104 universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs are eligible to participate in the Hearst competitions.