UNL journalism students win in Hearst national competition
Released on 06/14/2006, at 12:00 AM
Office of University Communications
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
Three University of Nebraska-Lincoln journalism students earned national awards June 10 at the annual Hearst National Championships in San Francisco. Chris Welch placed first in the nation, Michael Bruntz took third place and Brian Lehman received an honorable mention.
Welch, a senior from Omaha, won the national championship in the broadcasting category for his television news report on immigration issues. He won $5,000 and a first-place medallion.
Bruntz, a May news-editorial graduate from Omaha, took third place in the writing competition for his stories on immigration and former California Gov. Jerry Brown. Bruntz received $3,000.
Lehman, a senior from Lincoln, received honorable mention in the photojournalism category and won the "best picture story of the year" award for a series of photos documenting the Platte River.
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program is presented annually under the auspices of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with full funding by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. The program encourages and supports excellence in journalism and journalism education in America's colleges and universities. This is the 46th year of competitions, in which more than $400,000 in scholarships and grants will be awarded to students and schools.
There are six writing, three photojournalism, two radio broadcast news and two television broadcast news competitions each academic year, beginning in October and ending in April. The monthly competitions honor the top 10 winners with awards ranging from $500 to $2,000, with the schools receiving matching grants. The competition year culminates in June with the National Writing, Photojournalism and Broadcast News Championships, and is open to selected winning students from the monthly competitions who also receive additional awards.
This year, 836 entries were submitted and 24 students qualified for the three-day national championship event.
This marks the first time that UNL's College of Journalism and Mass Communications qualified three students for the national championships in three different categories: broadcasting, writing and photography.
CONTACT: Joe Starita, Assoc. Professor, News-Editorial, (402) 472-8280