The Hearst Journalism Awards Program - Writing - Explanatory Reporting – Team or Individual Grant

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program, established in 1960, supports undergraduate journalism education with up to $700,000 in annual awards. The program includes multiple competitions in writing, photojournalism, audio, television, and multimedia categories. Each participating university can submit two student entries per competition, fostering excellence in journalism. Open to journalism majors or minors, the program encourages students to engage actively in campus media. The Hearst Foundation, founded by William Randolph Hearst, has contributed significantly to education and the arts nationwide.

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 65th annual program, offering up to $700,000 in awards, consists of four monthly writing competitions, two photojournalism competitions, two audio competitions, two television competitions, and four multimedia competitions – with championship finals in all divisions.
Since then, The Hearst Foundations have contributed more than one billion dollars in the areas of education, health care, social services and the arts throughout the country.
Program Guidelines
There are 14 journalism awards competitions in the 2024-2025 each school year—four writing, two photojournalism, two audio, two television, and four multimedia competitions.
Each participating university may enter two separate students’ entries per competition. Schools receive a $250 stipend per competition entered regardless of students’ placements.
The submission must have been disseminated – published, aired and/or posted – while the student was an undergraduate journalism major or minor attending a domestic accredited college or university within the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC). An exception is made for photo entrants who do not have to be journalism majors/minors to enter the photo competitions.
Double bylines and/or group entries are not allowed except in the Multimedia IV – Team competition and the Team or Individual Investigative Reporting competition.

Eligibility

Participation in the program is open to undergraduate journalism majors or minors currently enrolled in ACEJMC–accredited domestic universities. An exception to the journalism major/minor requirement 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 the writing, photojournalism, audio, television, and/or multimedia competitions.