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. There are 14 journalism awards competitions throughout each school year—five writing, two photojournalism, one audio, two television, and four multimedia 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, broadcast and/or multimedia competitions. Applicants must be undergraduate journalism majors attending an ASJMC-accredited domestic, undergraduate journalism program at the time their entry was published/aired/posted. An exception to the journalism major rule is made for students entering the photo competitions. Deadlines vary for each competition.