In their own words…

At the Awards Ceremony on Saturday night—after hours of planning, shooting, writing and editing—all I could think about was how amazing the food looked. Problem was… the enormous butterflies in my stomach were preventing me from eating it. As the awards were being announced, “nervous” was an understatement. The Hearst Championship is the Pulitzer Prize of college journalism. Getting to San Francisco has been a goal of mine since freshman year of college. Actually winning the thing was something I only dreamed of.

A few days earlier when we got our assignment, I tried my best to hit the ground running in a city I knew nothing about. My photographer and I blindly went to Fisherman’s Wharf and just did some on-the-ground journalism—chatting with fishermen, getting some information and figuring out how the economy was hitting this part of San Francisco. We went on a fishing boat, visited a fish distributor and talked with a restaurant owner—trying to understand the entire seafood chain in San Francisco. It was only later that night, as I looked back at the video and sound we shot, that I realized we had an extremely compelling, character driven story.

The Hearst Foundation has been so helpful in helping me craft my career. Obviously, the financial support is great for college student with loans. But they’ve also helped me figure out what journalism means to me…and given me a new appreciation for the industry and the people in it. San Francisco—with the food and fancy hotels—was just an added little bonus. Thanks Hearst!