San Francisco – Winners have been announced in the Photojournalism Picture Story/Series Competition of the 2024-2025 Hearst Journalism Awards Program. The winners were selected from 86 entries from 52 schools
submitted in the second photo competition of the year.
First Place has been awarded to Ellie Kollme, a junior from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Ellie wins a $3,000 scholarship and qualifies for the National Photojournalism Championship in June 2025.
Second Place, $2,000 award, Chad Cushing, University of Kansas
Third Place, $1,500 award, Arthur Trickett-Wile, Western Kentucky University
Fourth Place, $1,000 award, Abbey Cutrer, University of Kentucky
Fifth Place, $1,000 award, Maddie McCuddy, University of Montana
The top five winning schools will receive matching grants.
Sixth-through-tenth place finalists:
Sixth Place, certificate, Diana Valdivia, Syracuse University
Seventh Place, certificate Charley Szydlyk, Ohio University
Eighth Place, certificate, Cara Penquite, University of Missouri
Ninth Place, certificate, Sean McInnis, Western Kentucky University
Tenth Place, certificate, Matthew Mueller, University of Kentucky
Western Kentucky University has won the Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition with the highest
accumulated student points from the two photo competitions held this year.
They are followed by:
University of Kentucky
University of Montana
University of Kansas
Ohio University
University of Missouri
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Syracuse University
University of Arizona
University of Florida
The top three intercollegiate winners earn $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 respectively. These awards will be
presented at the Intercollegiate Presentation held during the National Championships in June.
The photojournalism judges are: Nicole Frugé, Director of Visuals, The San Francisco Chronicle; Danny Gawlowski, Senior Manager, Communications and Policy, Carbon to Sea; and Elodie Mailliet Storm, CEO, CatchLight.
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program introduced photojournalism to its competitions in 1970. Now in its 65th year, the program includes four writing competitions, two photojournalism competitions, one audio, two
television, one podcast, and four multimedia competitions. The Program offers up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants, and stipends. Currently, 105 universities with accredited undergraduate journalism programs – members of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication – are eligible to participate in the Hearst competitions.
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