News Story

Sophomore Hannah Fleace won first place in the personality/profile of the Hearst Foundation Journalism Awards Program’s Intercollegiate Writing Competition, and senior Michael Majchrowicz was third, the organization announced Thursday.

Fleace won for her story, “Miner and Mother,” published in the Dubois County Herald. She will receive a $2,600 scholarship, and she qualifies to participate in the 2015 Hearst Journalism Writing Championship in June in San Francisco.

Majchrowicz will receive a $1,500 scholarship for his story, “The Guardian,” published in the Indiana Daily Student.

IU remains in first place overall in the contest, which includes five monthly writing competitions where students from around the national submit their published work in specific categories. Schools earn points based on their students’ performances. Earlier in the contest, junior Samantha Schmidt won first place in the enterprise reporting category, junior Evan Hoopfer won second place in sports writing, and others placed lower but still earned points.

Along with the writing competition, the program conducts contests in radio, television, multimedia and photojournalism. The program awards up to $500,000 in scholarships and grants annually, including student scholarships and matching grants for schools.

IU students have found success in what some call the Pulitzer Prizes of college journalism. IU’s Charlie Scudder won the national prize in 2013 and Danielle Paquette won in 2011. Several others have competed at the nationals, with three placing second or third. In overall points, IU has won or finished second in the writing program finals several times in the last five years.

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.