Missouri School of Journalism students win prestigious honors in 2022-2023 Hearst competitions

Hearst Journalism Awards Program

By Austin Fitzgerald

COLUMBIA, Mo. (June 28, 2023) — Four School of Journalism students were honored as top finishers in the Hearst Journalism Awards National Championship in June, capping off a year of numerous Hearst honors across the School’s professional media outlets.

From June 2-7, finalists participated in the National Championships in San Francisco, where they demonstrated their writing, photography, audio, television and multimedia skills in spot assignments chosen by media.

“Our students are producing outstanding professional journalism every day for their community, and it’s exciting to see their hard work honored on the national stage once again,” said David Kurpius, dean of the School of Journalism. “At the same time, the faculty and staff who also worked hard to help these students reach their potential should be proud.”

“Special Awards” were also announced for work submitted earlier in the year, with two School of Journalism students earning these top designations as well.

This year, 1,304 entries were submitted in the writing, photojournalism, audio, television and multimedia competitions. As a whole, the School earned first place in the Overall Intercollegiate Broadcast Competition thanks to top performances from students throughout the year.

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program was founded in 1960 to support, encourage and give assistance to journalism education through scholarships for outstanding college students. Since its inception, the program has distributed more than $15 million in scholarships and grants for exceptional work from student journalists who participate in the program.

“The Hearst Awards are among the most prestigious and competitive national student journalism awards, and our students’ showing speaks volumes about the high quality of their work,” said Professor Mark Horvit, who coordinates the School’s One Newsroom, where students and leadership from each of the School’s news outlets come together to plan coverage. “This is a reflection of the excellence of the work that is published and broadcast by our students every day.”

2022-2023 Hearst Award Winners

National Championship Awards

National Audio Championship

  • Finalist, Briana Heaney

National Television Championship

  • Third Place, Rachel Henderson
  • Finalist, Julie Koharik

National Writing Championship

  • Finalist, Eli Hoff

Special Awards

Best Article of the Year

  • Winner, Eli Hoff

Best Use of Television for News Coverage

  • Winner, Julie Koharik

Individual Awards

  • Claire Colby, tenth place, Explanatory Reporting Competition
  • Hope Davis, 13th Place, Personality/Profile Competition
  • Reagan Di Trolio, 12th place, TV Features Competition
  • Briana Heaney, fifth place, Audio News/Features
  • Rachel Henderson, fifth place, Television News Competition
  • Eli Hoff, first place, Feature Writing
  • Julie Koharik, first place, Television News Competition
  • Julie Koharik seventh place, Television Features Competition
  • Ella McCarthy, fifth place, Feature Writing
  • Cora Mitchell, 11th place, Multimedia II Competition
  • Sara Moyers, seventh place, Multimedia II Competition
  • Toby Young, seventh place, Multimedia Digital News/Enterprise Story
  • Sofi Zeman, 15th place, Investigative Reporting
  • Owen Ziliak, 16th Place, Photo Picture Story/Series Competition

Overall Intercollegiate Awards

  • First Place, Overall Intercollegiate Broadcast Competition
  • Fifth place, overall Intercollegiate Writing
  • Sixth place, overall Intercollegiate Multimedia
  • Fourth place, Intercollegiate Overall

Updated: June 28, 2023

Related Stories

Expand All Collapse All