San Francisco – Winners have been announced in the Multimedia Innovative Storytelling and Audience Engagement Competition of the 2021-2022 Hearst Journalism Awards Program.
There were 50 entries from 33 schools submitted in the second of four multimedia competitions held this academic year.
First Place has been awarded to Chris Ocana, a senior from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Chris will receive a $3,000 scholarship for the winning multimedia piece “Nuanced or just neat? Here is what’s so nifty about NFTs.”
Chris also qualifies to participate in the Hearst Journalism Awards National Multimedia Championship which will be held this May.
The other top finalists are:
Second place, $2,000 award, Hannah Vanover, Western Kentucky University
Third place, $1,500 award, Kate Lý Johnston, University of Southern California
Fourth Place, $1,000 award, Alex Berenfeld, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Fifth Place, $1,000 award, Amy Griffin, Brigham Young University
The top five winning schools receive matching grants.
The sixth-through-tenth place finalists are:
Sixth Place, certificate, Lily LaRegina, Pennsylvania State University
Seventh Place, certificate, Ivy Ceballo, Western Kentucky University
Eighth Place, certificate, Avery Everett, University of Missouri
Ninth Place, certificate, Andrew Mendez, University of Nevada, Reno
Tenth Place, certificate, Rachelle Schnelle, University of Missouri
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is currently first place in the Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition, with the highest accumulated student points from two of four multimedia competitions.
They are followed by: Western Kentucky University; University of Southern California; Arizona State University;
San Francisco State University; Pennsylvania State University; University of Missouri; Syracuse University (tie); Brigham Young University (tie); University of Nevada, Reno.
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 four multimedia competitions
during the National Championships in May.
The multimedia judges are: Danese Kenon, Director of Video and Photography, Philadelphia Inquirer, PA; Jarrad Henderson, Senior Multimedia Producer – Investigative and Enterprise Video Team, USA Today, VA; Meredith Hogan, Senior Creative Producer, Red Element Studios, WA.
The Journalism Awards Program, now in its 62nd year, added multimedia to the competitions in 2010. The
program also includes five writing, one audio, two television, and two photojournalism competitions offering up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends annually.
There are 103 universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs that are eligible to participate in the Hearst monthly competitions.
