The Hearst Journalism Awards Program, was founded in 1960, to provide support, encouragement, and assistance to journalism education at the college and university level. The program awards scholarships to students for outstanding performance in college level journalism, with matching grants to the students' schools.

The 50th annual program offering more than $550,000 in awards, consists of six monthly writing competitions, three photojournalism competitions, four broadcast news competitions (two in radio and two in television), and a multimedia competition - with championship finals in all divisions except multimedia.

Participation in the program is open to undergraduate journalism majors currently enrolled in the 110 ACEJMC accredited colleges or universities. An exception to the journalism major rule is made for students entering the photojournalism competitions. Entrants must be actively involved in campus media and must have published articles, photographs or produced newscasts or multimedia pieces that can be submitted in our writing, photojournalism, broadcast news and/or multimedia competitions.

The William Randolph Hearst Foundation was established by its namesake, publisher William Randolph Hearst, in 1948 under California non-profit laws, exclusively for educational and charitable purposes. Since then, The Hearst Foundations have contributed more than $735 million in the areas of education, health care, social services, and the arts in every state.