Alani wins first in breaking news, IU takes first in Hearst
New IU graduate Hannah Alani is the winner of the Hearst Foundation’s Journalism Awards Program’s breaking news writing contest, the organization announced Tuesday.
Alani will join fellow IU students Jordan Guskey, who won the sports writing contest, and Taylor Telford, who placed second in enterprise reporting and fourth in personality/profiles, at the Hearst national finals in San Francisco in June.
As a result of all the IU students’ achievements, Indiana University placed first overall in the writing competition.
The breaking news writing contest is one of 14 monthly competitions of the Hearst program, which consists of five writing, two photojournalism, one radio, two TV and four multimedia categories, with championship finals in all divisions. Students submit their previously published work for the contests. Students from 106 undergraduate journalism programs at universities across the nation are eligible to participate.
Alani’s entry, “Daniel Messel receives 80 years for murder of Hannah Wilson,” was among 93 entries from 58 journalism schools around the country. She will receive a $2,600 scholarship as first-prize winner.
The program awards up to $500,000 in scholarships and grants annually, including student scholarships and matching grants for schools.
Schools also receive matching gifts, as well as a prize at the end of the cycle for the school that accumulates the most points based on their students’ total points.
Other IU students whose points contributed to IU’s first place prize were Sophomores Laurel Demkovich and Sarah Gardner, who placed third and fourth, respectively, in the feature writing contest.
Media School students have had success in past Hearst contests. Seven IU students competed in the finals last June, and Alden Woods, BAJ’16, won first prize.
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program is conducted under the auspices of accredited schools of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, and is fully funded and administered by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation.
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