San Francisco – Winners have been announced in the Photojournalism Picture Story/Series Competition of the 2023-2024 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. The winners were selected from 88 entries from 54
schools submitted in the second photo competition of the year.
First Place has been awarded to Grace Smith, a senior from University of Iowa. Grace wins a $3,000
scholarship and qualifies for the National Photojournalism Championship in June 2024.
The second-through-fifth place finalists, along with finalists from the first photo competition and two additional high score qualifiers (wildcards), will submit additional photos for the semi-final round of judging. Four finalists will be chosen from that round to compete in the Championship.
The finalists who qualify for the semi-final round are:
Second Place, $2,000 award, Brett Phelps, Western Kentucky University
Third Place, $1,500 award, Mackenzie Tyson, Ohio University
Fourth Place, $1,000 award, Emily Nyberg, University of Iowa
Fifth Place, $1,000 award, Heather Diehl, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The top five winning schools receive matching grants.
The wildcards are Benjamin Fanjoy, San Francisco State University and Kate Cassady, University of Missouri.
The sixth-through-tenth place finalists are:
Sixth Place, certificate, Cassidy Hettesheimer, University of Georgia
Seventh Place, certificate, Emilee Arnold, Western Kentucky University
Eighth Place, certificate, Benjamin Fanjoy, San Francisco State University
Ninth Place, certificate, Azul Sordo, University of North Texas
Tenth Place, certificate, Reece Andrews, Arizona State University
The University of Iowa has placed first in the Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition with the highest
accumulated student points from the two photo competitions. They are followed by: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; University of Missouri; Western Kentucky University; Michigan State University; San Francisco State University; Ohio University; University of North Texas; Iowa State University; University of Kentucky.
The top three intercollegiate winners earn $10,000, $4,000 and $2,000 respectively, which will be presented
during the National Championship in June.
The photojournalism judges are: Marcia Allert, Managing Photo Producer, Apple; Nicole Frugé, Director of Visuals, The San Francisco Chronicle; Danny Gawlowski, Assistant Managing Editor, The Seattle Times.
The 64th annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program includes five writing, two photo, one audio, two television, and four multimedia competitions offering up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends.
Currently, there are 105 universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs are eligible to participate in the Hearst competitions.
