San Francisco – Winners have been announced in the Multimedia Innovative Storytelling Competition of the 2023-2024 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. There were 47 entries from 34 schools submitted in the second multimedia competition of the year.
First Place has been awarded to Rhiannon Johnston, a junior from Western Kentucky University. Rhiannon will receive a $3,000 scholarship for the winning piece “The Road Home” and qualifies for the National Multimedia Championship which will be held this June in San Francisco.
The other top finalists are:
Second Place, $2,000 award, McKenzie Bulris, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Third Place, $1,500 award, Aubrey Bocalan, University of Florida
Fourth Place, $1,000 award, Gerard Millman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Fifth Place, $1,000 award, Alejandro Rosales, Syracuse University
The top five winning schools receive matching grants.
The sixth-through-tenth place finalists are:
Sixth Place, certificate, Ashleigh Lucas, University of Florida
Seventh Place, certificate, Madison Neal, Kansas State University
Eighth Place, certificate, Sean McInnis, Western Kentucky University
Ninth Place, certificate, Emily Mai, Arizona State University
Tenth Place, certificate, Madison Lloyd, University of Nevada, Reno
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is in first place in the Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition with the highest accumulated student points from the first two of four multimedia competitions this academic year. They are followed by: Syracuse University; Western Kentucky University; University of Florida; Arizona State University; University of Nevada, Reno; Colorado State University (tie); Pennsylvania State University (tie); University of Missouri; Stony Brook University.
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 in May and presented at the National Championship.
The multimedia judges are: Meredith Hogan, Senior Creative Producer, Red Element Studios; Danese Kenon, Managing Editor of Visuals, Philadelphia Inquirer; Robert Scheer, Deputy Managing Editor for Visuals, The Post and Courier.
The Journalism Awards Program, now in its 64th 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. 105 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.
