Hearst Journalism Awards national champions

The UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media has won the 2019 Hearst Journalism Awards intercollegiate national championship and sent five students to San Francisco in June 2019 to compete for individual national championships.

The William Randolph Hearst Foundation announced the individual national champions during its final awards ceremony at the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco on Wednesday, June 5.  All five Hussman School finalists placed in the Top 3 for their respective categories: Alex Kormann '19 won first place ($10,000) in the national photojournalism championship; Megan Cain '19 won second place ($7,500) and Brighton McConnell '19 won third place ($5,000) in the national radio broadcast news championship; and Darian Murphy Woehr '19 won first place ($10,000) and Abby Cantrell '20 won third place ($5,000) in the national multimedia championship.

“Our students and faculty prove every day why the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media is looked to as a leader in media and journalism education,” said Susan King, dean of the school. “Awards are not the single measure of quality, but consistent performance and excellence over time in the national arena of the Hearst Competitions demonstrate that our culture attracts and develops leaders who will invent the future of media.”

In addition to placing first overall ($25,000), the Hussman School also placed first in multimedia ($10,000), second in photojournalism ($4,000), third in radio & television ($2,000) and fifth in writing. And two of the five traveling Tar Heels took home three additional awards of excellence: The Award for Best Use of Radio for News Coverage ($1,000) — selected from the monthly radio entries — went to Brighton McConnell '19, and both the Award for Best Portfolio ($1,000) and the Single Photo Award ($1,000) — selected from the semi-final photojournalism portfolios — went to Alex Kormann '19.

Individual and intercollegiate Hearst winnings in San Francisco will total more than $81,500 for 2019 alone.

The 2019 overall win marks eight Hearst championships for the Hussman School and its fourth in only five years — the most of any of the more than 100 accredited programs in the country. The Hussman School is also the only competing program to place in the Top 5 overall every year since 2002.

The Hearst Foundation announced the intercollegiate winners of the 2019 Hearst Journalism Awards Program on Tuesday, May 21. Often called the "Pulitzers of college journalism," the Hearst program holds year-long competitions in writing, photojournalism, radio, television and multimedia for journalism undergraduates.

The awards program was founded in 1960 to foster journalism education through scholarships for outstanding college students. Since its inception, the program has distributed more than $13 million in scholarships and grants for the very best work by student journalists.

2019 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Hearst Journalism Awards Intercollegiate Competition

Overall

FIRST PLACE (intercollegiate): University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Radio & Television

THIRD PLACE (intercollegiate): University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

SECOND PLACE (individual): Megan Cain '19
THIRD PLACE (individual): Brighton McConnell '19

Best Use of Radio for News Coverage: Brighton McConnell '19

National finalist(individual): Megan Cain '19
National finalist (individual): Brighton McConnell '19

Multimedia

FIRST PLACE (intercollegiate): University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

FIRST PLACE (individual): Darian Murphy Woehr '19
THIRD PLACE (individual): Abby Cantrell '20

National finalist (individual): Abby Cantrell '20
National finalist (individual): Darian Murphy Woehr '19

Photojournalism

SECOND PLACE (intercollegiate): University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

FIRST PLACE (individual): Alex Kormann '19

Award for Best Portfolio: Alex Kormann '19
Single Photo Award: Alex Kormann '19

National finalist (individual): Alex Kormann '19

Writing

FIFTH PLACE (intercollegiate): University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

2018-19 MONTHLY COMPETITIONS

Radio & Television (monthly)

First place: Megan Cain '19 (Radio: News and Features)

Second place: Brighton McConnell '19 (Radio: News and Features)

Fifth place: Emily Wakeman '19 (Television II: News)

Eighth place: Payton Walker '19 (Television I: Features)

Ninth place: Sydney Persing '19 (Television II: News)

Multimedia (monthly)

First place: Abby Cantrell '20 (Multimedia I: Features)

Second place: Jason Armond '21 (Multimedia I: Features)

Second place: Kaitlin Harlow '19 and Rob Gourley '18 (minor) (Multimedia IV: Team Reporting/News)

Sixth place: Alex Kormann '19 (Multimedia III: Enterprise Reporting)

Seventh place: Darian Murphy Woehr '19 (Multimedia II: News)

Seventh place: Darian Murphy Woehr '19 (Multimedia III: Enterprise Reporting)

Seventh place: Alex Kormann '19, Hanna Davison '18, Alexis Fairbanks '18, Kaitlin Harlow '19, MaryRachel Bulkeley '18 and Danielle Chemtob '18 (Multimedia IV: Team Reporting/News)

Eighth place: Courtney Staton '19 (Multimedia II: News)

Photojournalism (monthly)

First place: Alex Kormann '19 (Photojournalism II: Photo Picture Story/Series)

Fourth place: Jason Armond '21 (Photojournalism I: News & Features)

Eighth place: Alex Kormann '19 (Photojournalism I: News & Features)

Writing (monthly)

Fifth place: Myah Ward '20 (Features)

Seventh place: Kiana Cole '18 (Features)

Ninth place: Cailyn Derickson '19 (Personality/Profile Writing)