April 24, 2001

Westen School Of Journalism And Broadcasting Repeats As Overall Winner In National Hearst Competitions

Bowling Green, Ky. - Western Kentucky University's School of Journalism and Broadcasting has repeated as the overall intercollegiate champion in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program.

Western's first-place finish in broadcasting, a second-place finish in photojournalism and a seventh-place finish in print journalism added up to first-place overall in the program that's often called the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism.

Others in the top 10 overall were North Carolina, Florida, Northwestern, Missouri, Montana, Syracuse, Indiana, Alabama and Nebraska.

"We believe the best proof of the value of the education we deliver is the performance of our students in competition and the performance of our graduates in the field," said Jo-Ann Albers, director of the School of Journalism and Broadcasting.

Caroline Lynch, a Louisville junior, won first place in spot news writing, the last of six writing competitions, for her story on the cave rescue of Chris Groves. Lynch and the School of Journalism and Broadcasting will receive matching $2,000 awards.

"I was especially pleased with the final standings in the writing competition
because we had lost so many talented writers in the past year," said Bob Adams, adviser of the College Heights Herald, WKU's student newspaper. "In basketball, you look at how much your returning players scored. Virtually all of our scorers were gone, so this year's entrants really deserve a lot of credit for our strong showing."

Lynch and Aimee Reed, a Columbia senior, will travel to San Francisco in June for the Hearst competition national finals in writing and broadcasting. Amber T. Woolfolk, a Los Angeles junior, is a national semifinalist in photo and will submit a portfolio in May before learning whether she is one of the six finalists selected.

Two other broadcasting students, Scottsville junior Lisa Hughes and Louisville senior Julie Goodwin, were national semifinalists.

Three Western students, one each in writing, broadcasting and photojournalism, advanced to the national finals last year.

Western won the Hearst competition's overall intercollegiate title for the first time ever last year with a first-place finish in photojournalism and fourth-place finishes in broadcasting and print journalism.

At the June 11 awards program in San Francisco, Western will receive a $10,000 award for finishing first in the Intercollegiate Broadcasting Competition and $5,000 for a second-place finish in the Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition.

For more information, contact the School of Journalism and Broadcasting at (270) 745-4143. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.