Kent State finished among the top 20 programs in the nation and first in the state of Ohio in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program for 2016-2017. Students and alumni also earned several top individual honors.
Known as “the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism,” the Hearst Awards Program presents scholarships to students for outstanding performance in college-level journalism. Competitions take place throughout the year in college writing, photojournalism, radio broadcast, television broadcast and multimedia categories.
Television Broadcast News Competition:
- Ben Orner, ’18, placed ninth in the nation
Journalism major Ben Orner, '18, placed in the top 10 for Television Broadcast News Competition. He placed ninth out of 69 entrants from 39 schools, earning a certificate of merit.
Read more about Orner’s honor here: Junior Places in Hearst's Top Ten for Broadcast Journalism
Personality/Profile Writing Competition:
- Nick Buzzelli, a graduate student, placed tenth in the nation
Journalism and Mass Communication Graduate Student Nick Buzzelli placed in the top 10 for the College Personality/Profile Writing Competition. He placed tenth out of 114 entries from 62 schools, earning a certificate of merit.
Photojournalism II – Picture Story/Series Competition:
- Eslah Attar, ’17, placed 12th in the nation
- Andrea Noall, ’17, placed 17th in the nation
Two photojournalism students, Eslah Attar, ’17, and Andrea Noall, ’17, placed top 20 in the nation in the Hearst Photojournalism II- Picture Story/Series Competition. Kent State also placed tenth nationally in the Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition. This is the fifth year in a row Kent State placed in the top 10 of this competition.
Read more about photojournalism’s recognition here: Students Post Strong Results in Photojournalism Competitions
Multimedia Competition:
- Ian Flickinger, ’16, placed 12th in the nation
- Kiana Duncan, ’18, placed 18th in the nation
Journalism major Kiana Duncan, ’18, and alumnus Ian Flickinger, ’16, were recognized for their work in the Hearst Multimedia Competition. Flickinger, who is now a broadcast associate at CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley, earned 12th place nationwide and Duncan earned 18th place for a story she worked on last spring when she traveled to Cyprus for International Storytelling.
Read more about the Hearst multimedia honors here: Student, Alumnus Recognized in Hearst Multimedia Contest.
About the Hearst Awards
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program operates under the auspices of the accredited schools of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication. It is fully funded and administered by The William Randolph Hearst Foundation. Currently, 108 accredited undergraduate schools of journalism in the United States are eligible to participate in the program, which awards up to $500,000 in scholarships and grants annually.
Publisher William Randolph Hearst established the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and The Hearst Foundation, Inc. in the 1940s, a few years before his death in 1951. Since then, the Foundations have awarded more than one billion dollars in grants and programs.