WKU News

WKU’s School of Media recorded its 12^th straight top five national ranking with a third-place finish in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program’s 2020-2021 Overall Intercollegiate Competition.

The top 10 in the Overall Intercollegiate Competition are University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Florida, WKU, Syracuse University, Arizona State University, University of Missouri, Pennsylvania State University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Ohio University and University of Kentucky.

WKU has finished in the top eight nationally in the Hearst program for 28 straight years and has won four overall national championships -- 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2018.

In 2020-2021, WKU won the Hearst Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition for the fifth straight year and the 27^th time in the past 32 years and finished second in the Hearst Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition.

Two WKU students finished as runners-up in the Hearst program’s 2021 national championships.

Chris Kohley, a spring 2021 graduate from Streamwood, Illinois, was a runner-up in the photojournalism championship, while Sam Mallon, a senior from Silver Spring, Maryland, was a runner-up in the multimedia championship. Both received $1,500 awards.

From June 4-11, 29 finalists participated in the 61st annual Hearst National Writing, Photojournalism, Audio, Television and Multimedia Championships. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the championships were held virtually once again this year. Finalists met their judges and received their assignments over Zoom meetings, then produced and submitted their pieces from home on deadline. Awards were announced June 14.

Often called “The Pulitzers of college journalism,” the Hearst program consists of five writing, two photojournalism, one audio, two television and four multimedia competitions. The points earned by individual students in the monthly competitions determine each discipline’s Intercollegiate ranking. The winners are those schools with the highest accumulated student points in each category.

The top 10 in the 2020-2021 Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition are WKU, Ohio University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Montana, University of Kentucky, Ball State University, Pennsylvania State University, University of Oregon, University of Florida and Syracuse University.

The top 10 finishers in the 2020-2021 Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition are University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, WKU, San Francisco State University, University of Florida, University of Missouri, Stony Brook University, Arizona State University, Elon University, Syracuse University and University of Montana.

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.

Funded and administered for 61 years by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Hearst Journalism Awards Program offers up to $700,000 in scholarships, grants and stipends annually; 104 colleges and universities with accredited undergraduate journalism schools are eligible to participate.

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