2003 National Championship
June 2-7, 2003
The 43rd Annual National Hearst Journalism Awards Championship was the culmination of the 2002-2003 monthly competitions. 24 finalists with top scores in those competitions were brought to San Francisco to demonstrate their abilities in on-the-spot assignments and compete for additional scholarship awards. The writing, photojournalism, radio broadcast and television broadcast finalists, along with program judges, Journalism Deans, and special guests convened the first week of June for this unique event.
The writing finalists interviewed legendary White House correspondent Helen Thomas, and produced a news story and a personality/profile about their subject. In addition, they researched and wrote an article on homelessness in San Francisco. The photo finalists were given five assignments: three to five images of the San Francisco Giants’ game, one to three images of “working SF” for the Metro section, a Feature/Enterprise photo for the cover of the Metro section, one image capturing the highs and lows of SF, and an image to fulfill the assignment “Send Momma a postcard.” The radio and television finalists were assigned the same two stories: the Bay Area’s Rapid Transit system’s expansion to the airport and Homelessness in the city.
The judges received the completed articles, images, and tapes by the morning of June 7th for review. The winners were announced that same evening at the awards ceremony.
