BYU Students Shine in Annual Hearst Foundation Awards
Brigham Young University student Stephen Tanner was a finalist in the Broadcast News category of the the William Randolph Hearst Foundation’s 2012 Journalism Awards Program. In addition to Tanner’s recognition, the BYU broadcast journalism program ranked fifth overall in the nation, up from its sixth-place ranking in 2011.
According to the Hearst Foundation’s press release, the Hearst Championships are the culmination of the 2011 – 2012 Journalism Awards Program, which features entrants from the 106 member colleges and universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ACEJMC).
Over the year, students from member schools enter in preliminary competitions. In addition to their national-level awards, BYU students were also recognized in the preliminary awards. Stephen Tanner took 5th place in the Radio category and Lydia Defranchi took 3rd place in the Television—Hard News category. These preliminary awards and Tanner’s national-level appearance propelled BYU’s broadcast journalism to its overall, fifth-place finish.
Lydia Defranchi won 3rd place in the preliminary Television—Hard News competition.
From the preliminary contests, 29 finalists were then selected to compete at the national level. For the national-level competition, Tanner was flown out to San Francisco, and after being given a general topic, was given two days to interview, record, write, and edit a story. The assignments were decided by media professionals who judged the finalists’ work throughout the year and at the Championships. Winners were announced during the final awards ceremony on June 7th.
“We’re very proud of all of our students,” says Chad Curtis, Broadcast News Manager for elevenNEWS, the BYU lab for broadcast journalism. “Our submissions to the Hearst competition each year are always competitive. It goes to show the dedication our students have to the field of broadcast journalism.”
Over the past decade, Brigham Young University has been well represented among winners in the Hearst Awards, including 3 first-place finishes in the national competition as well as 16 wins in the preliminary, monthly competitions.
BYU is the only ACEJMC accredited program in the Intermountain West (Utah and Idaho). The next closest schools are Arizona State and University of Nevada-Reno.
