San Francisco – Winners have been announced in the Feature Writing Competition of the
2021-2022 Hearst
Journalism Awards Program. There were 148 entries from 80 schools submitted in the first writing competition of the academic year.

First Place has been awarded to Maddie Ellis, a senior from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Maddie will receive a $3,000 scholarship for the winning article “How much is a 16-year-old photo worth? A lot.”
Maddie also qualifies to participate in the Hearst National Writing Championship which will be held in May 2022.

The other top finalists are:


Second place, $2,000 award,  Kiera Riley, Arizona State University
Third place, $1,500 award, Stephanie Melo, Stony Brook University
Fourth Place, $1,000 award, Eleanor Quarles, Syracuse University
Fifth Place, $1,000 award, Katherine Lester, Texas Christian University

The top five winning schools receive matching grants.

The sixth-through-tenth place finalists are:


Sixth Place, certificate, Mia Hartley, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Seventh Place, certificate, Lauren Irwin, University of Colorado
Eighth Place, certificate, Kate Heston, University of Iowa
Ninth Place, certificate, Griffen Smith, University of Montana
Tenth Place, certificate, Ava Kian, University of Minnesota

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is in first place in the Intercollegiate Writing Competition with the highest accumulated student points from the first of five writing competitions.
 They are followed by: Arizona State University; Stony Brook University; University of Florida; Syracuse University; Texas Christian University;
University of North Alabama; University of Colorado (tie); University of Nebraska-Lincoln (tie); University of Iowa.

The top three intercollegiate winners earn $10,000, $4,000 and $2,000 respectively. The final intercollegiate
winners will be announced after the completion of all five writing competitions in May.

The writing judges are: Kimbriell Kelly, Washington Bureau Chief, The Los Angeles Times, CA; Larry Kramer, retired President and Publisher, USA Today, VA; Maria Reeve, Editor-in-Chief, The Houston Chronicle, TX.


The Journalism Awards Program, now in its 62nd year, also includes two photojournalism, one audio, two
television, and four multimedia competitions. The program offers up to $700,000 in scholarships,
matching grants and stipends. 103 member universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs are eligible to participate in the Hearst
competitions.