Hussman wins 6th straight Hearst National Championship

The 64th Annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program Championship, organized by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation was held in San Francisco from June 1-7, 2024. The Championship comprises writing, photojournalism, audio, television, and multimedia categories and included 29 competitors. (© Photo by Jakub Mosur)

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program named UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media as the 2024 overall national champion in collegiate journalism.

It is the school’s sixth consecutive overall intercollegiate national championship, ninth in the 10 past years and 13th since 2002 — far surpassing the school’s closest competitors.

Considered the Pulitzers of collegiate journalism, the Hearst Awards included 14 monthly competitions with more than 1,315 entries nationwide. UNC Hussman students earned the highest total combined points in monthly writing, photojournalism, audio, television and multimedia competitions held over the past year.

In addition to the overall win, the school finished first in the multimedia and writing categories and second in the television, photojournalism and audio categories.

“It is nothing short of astounding what our UNC Hussman students have accomplished over the past year in every discipline that we teach in the school,” said Raul Reis, dean of the school.

“Our advertising and public relations students work on the front lines of the industry with the world’s most recognizable brands, and our journalism students produce stories and projects that address critical issues and make a real impact with their subjects and audiences. The performance of our students throughout this year’s Hearst competitions is a powerful illustration of how the talent of our students and the dedicated support of our faculty and staff combine to continually reach for new standards of excellence. I thank our faculty for mentoring, elevating and supporting the work of our students competing in the Hearst competitions.”

Eight UNC Hussman students were among 29 students nationwide who qualified to compete for individual championships in San Francisco:

Sinclair Holian ’24, writing
Lia Salvatierra ’24, writing
Anna Connors ’24, photojournalism
Sierra Pfeifer ’24, audio
Henry Taylor ’25, audio
Steven Schlink ’24, television
Kenzie Bulris ’25, multimedia
Marilee Combs ’24, multimedia

The individual championship finals were the culmination of monthly competitions throughout the year among students at more than 100 journalism and media programs. While eight Hussman students competed in the individual national championship finals, more than 30 Hussman students were recognized in monthly competitions, leading to the school’s overall intercollegiate championship and strong finishes in each of Hearst’s competitive categories.