HEARST  JOURNALISM  AWARDS  PROGRAM

NEWS  RELEASE

HEARST  PHOTOJOURNALISM  WINNERS  NAMED

San Francisco – Ten college photographers have been named finalists in the January 2009 photojournalism competition of the Hearst Journalism Awards Program.  Entries in the second of three photojournalism competitions were in the categories of News and Sports.

The winners were selected from among 69 entries submitted from 41 schools nationwide.  The top four winners, along with the top four finalists in the other two photo competitions and two overall highest scorers, will submit additional photographs for the semi-final round of judging this June.  Six finalists will be chosen from that round to compete in the program's National Photojournalism Championship, along with writing and broadcast finalists. 

110 member universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs are eligible to participate in the Hearst competitions.

The top four finalists who qualify for the semi-final are:

First Place, $2,000 award, STEPHEN  MATUREN,  University of Minnesota

Second Place, $1,500 award, JOHN  W.  ADKISSON,  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Third Place, $1,000 award, JONATHAN  GOERING,  University of Kansas

Fourth Place, $750 award, BRYAN  J.  ANSELM,  Western Kentucky University

The fifth through tenth place winners are:

Fifth Place, $600 award, THOMAS  SIMONETTI,  Western Kentucky University

Sixth Place, $500 award, ELLIOTT  HESS,  University of Kentucky

Seventh Place, $500 award, BETTINA  HANSEN,  Arizona State University

Eighth Place, $500 award, MATTHEW  MEAD,  University of Minnesota

Ninth Place, $500 award, JEFFREY  LOWMAN,  Arizona State University

Tenth Place, $500 award, CHRISTOPHER  McGUIRE,  San Francisco State University

These finalists’ journalism schools receive matching grants.

The Journalism Awards Program, now in its 49^th year, added photojournalism to the competition in 1970.  The program also includes six writing contests, four broadcast news competitions, and one multimedia competition offering more than $550,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends. 

The photojournalism judges are:  Janet Reeves, Senior Editor/Photography and Multimedia, The Rocky Mountain News, Denver, Colorado; Ken Geiger, Senior Editor, National Geographic Magazine, Washington, D.C.; Michael C. Norseng, Photo editor, Esquire Magazine, New York, NY.

Western Kentucky University is in first place after the first two photo competitions in the Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition with the highest accumulated student points.  It is followed by: University of Florida; University of Minnesota; University of Kentucky; tie: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and University of Missouri; Arizona State University; Southern Illinois University, Carbondale; University of Kansas; San Francisco State University.  The final Intercollegiate winners are announced in April.

Contact: Jan C. Watten, Program Director

415.908.4560

 jwatten@hearstfdn.org