Hearst Awards
UM J-School ranks seventh in nation

By Alissa Herbaly Coons
J-School Web Reporter

Top-notch work by J-School students earned UM seventh place in this year’s Hearst Journalism Intercollegiate Competition, and fifth place in broadcast news. In the overall competition, UM moved up from its 10th place showing last year and is the only Northwest school in the top ten.
.
Thirteen UM students won individual Hearst awards — considered to be the Pulitzers of college journalism — in this year's competition. The points they accrued during the October to April contest combined to form UM's overall rating.

UM's Hearst Winners for 2003

"What is remarkable is that a small program such as ours places amongst the best-funded, largest programs in the country," J-School Dean Jerry Brown said. "It reflects the talent and initiative of the students and the commitment of the faculty to the high standards of the Hearst competition."

With its accumulated wins, UM came in ahead of the University of Florida (8th); San Jose State University (9th); and the University of Missouri (10th).

Other top ten winners were:
1. Northwestern University
2. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
3. Western Kentucky University
4. Pennsylvania State University
5. Syracuse University
6. Arizona State University

The Radio-TV Department's outstanding performance bolstered the J-School's final ranking, and broadcast student Danielle Cross will be the second UM student to participate in the national finals since Hearst added its broadcast competition in 1988.

“For us to do what we’re doing with the resources we have is phenomenal,” broadcast professor Denise Dowling said, crediting students' dedication for pushing the J-School into the ranks of big name journalism programs. "It just makes me so proud."

Radio-TV Department Chairman Bill Knowles credits the hands-on teaching style of broadcast professors Dowling—who faithfully submits broadcast competition entries — and Ray Ekness for making the department's success in the Hearst competition possible.

"We have great students and a strong reputation and this just enhances it," Knowles said.

Cross, a junior in radio broadcast journalism, will be heading to San Francisco in June as one of five national finalists in the Hearst Broadcast News Radio Competition. She received $1,500 for reaching the semifinal round along with nine other students and will be competing for a first-place prize of $5,000.

“It was totally exciting,” Cross said of being notified that she made the finals. “The big thing was being able to go to San Francisco.” She and the four other finalists will have to cover and edit two local stories when they arrive, Cross said. One will be edited as a morning broadcast and the other for the evening. The Hearst judges will follow the reporters as they cover their stories and conduct interviews.

“I’m very excited,” Cross said. “I’m a little nervous obviously.”

The Hearst program, which gives more than $400,000 in awards, matching grants and stipends yearly, was founded in the late 1940s by publisher William Randolph Hearst. The competition consists of three photo, six writing and four broadcast news contests annually. Of approximately 400 journalism programs in the country, 105 are accredited by the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication and are eligible to participate in the awards program.

Back to front page