San Francisco – The William Randolph Hearst Foundation has announced the finalists selected in the 2015-2016 Journalism Awards Program’s television broadcast features competition. The top five television winners, selected from a record 109 entrants from 63 schools, will submit additional entries for a semi-final round of judging (along with five winners from the second television competition).
Following the semi-finals, five television finalists will be chosen to participate in the 2016 Championship in San Francisco, along with the radio, writing, photojournalism and multimedia finalists.
The top television winners are:
First Place, $2,600 award, Jaclyn Lee, University of North Carolina At Chapel Hill
Second Place, $2,000 award, Taylor Curet, Louisiana State University
Third Place, $1,500 award, Yahaira Jacquez, Arizona State University
Fourth Place, $1,000 award, Benjamin Smart, University of North Carolina At Chapel Hill
Fifth Place, $1,000 award, Amanda Chodnicki, Michigan State University *
Sixth Place, Certificate, Madison Mills, University of Southern California
The schools of all award-winning finalists receive matching grants.
* Amanda Chodnicki is spring 2015 graduate and per competition guidelines, is not eligible for the semi-final round. Sixth place winner Madison Mills qualifies for the semi-finals along with the other top finalists.
Finalists receiving certificates of merit are:
Seventh Place, Jack Royer, University of Alabama
Eighth Place, Rachel Wittel, University of Missouri
Ninth Place, Tomas Hoppough, University of Kansas
Tenth Place, James Torrez, University of Florida
The University of North Carolina placed first in the Intercollegiate Broadcast Competition with the highest accumulated student points in the first competition. They are followed by: Arizona State University, Michigan State University, Louisiana State University, University of Kansas, University of Florida, Southern California University, University of Alabama, University of Missouri, Pennsylvania State University.
The judges, all broadcast professionals, are: Marci Burdick, Senior Vice President of Broadcasting, Schurz Communications, Inc., Michawaka, IN; Harvey Nagler, Vice President, Radio, CBS News, New York, NY; and Fred Young, retired Senior Vice President of News, Hearst Television Inc., Yardley, PA.
The 56th annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program is held in 108 member universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs. The Broadcast News Competition was added in 1988 to Program which also includes writing, photojournalism, and multimedia competitions and offers awards totaling up to $500,000.
