The College of Communications has captured back-to-back national championships in the overall intercollegiate standings in the William R. Hearst Foundation’s Journalism Awards Program.
The college claimed its first overall championship in 2011-2012 and repeated in 2012-2013.
The annual Hearst competitions in writing, broadcasting, photojournalism and multimedia draw more than 1,000 student entries, with the overall national championship based on the combined standings in those four categories.
The college also finished first in the combined writing-broadcast standings and in the combined writing-broadcasting-photojournalism standings.
The annual competition -- known as “the Pulitzers of college journalism” -- is open to students from the country’s 106 nationally accredited undergraduate mass communication programs.
“We were pleased when we won our first overall championship last year,” Dean Doug Anderson said. “And to claim another crown is even sweeter.”
The college captured seven individual top-10 student finishes in writing; three individual top-10 finishes in photojournalism; two individual top-10 finishes in broadcasting; one individual top-10 finish in multimedia; and two groups of students earned top-10 finishes in the multimedia team competition.
Penn State was the only university to finish in the top-5 in all four competitions. Penn State, North Carolina, Missouri and Nebraska were the only universities to finish in the top-10 in all four competitions.
The college finished first in intercollegiate writing; second in photojournalism; third in broadcasting; and fifth in multimedia. Penn State amassed a Hearst record 823 points in the four competitions.
In the overall top 10, Penn State was followed by North Carolina, Missouri, Nebraska, Western Kentucky, Arizona State, Indiana, Kent State, Florida and Syracuse.
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program is conducted under the auspices of the accredited schools of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication and is fully funded by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.
The program awards more than $500,000 in awards and grants annually to the country’s nationally accredited programs.
The college and its students received $51,800 from the Hearst Foundation in awards and scholarships in 2012-2013.