WKU News

Western Kentucky University senior Emilee Arnold won the Hearst Journalism Awards Program’s 2025 National Photojournalism Championship earlier this month in San Francisco, California.

Arnold, a senior Visual Journalism & Photography major from Alvaton, received a $10,000 award for her first-place finish. Arnold is WKU’s 18th Hearst individual national champion since 1985.

WKU senior Brett Phelps, a Visual Journalism & Photography and Strategic Marketing major from Bardstown, finished second in the National Multimedia Championship and received a $7,500 award, while Madeline Powell, a senior Visual Journalism & Photography major from Louisville, was a finalist and received a $1,500 award.

Often called “The Pulitzers of college journalism,” the Hearst program includes five writing, two photo, one audio, two television and four multimedia competitions offering up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends. Currently, 105 member universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs are eligible to participate in the Hearst competitions.

Arnold, Phelps and Powell were among 29 finalists who competed May 31 - June 5 in the 65th National Writing, Photojournalism, Audio, Television, Multimedia and Podcast Championships.

The Hearst Championships are the culmination of the 2024-2025 Journalism Awards Program.

WKU’s School of Media & Communication finished second in the Hearst program’s 2025 Overall Intercollegiate Competition. WKU has placed in the top eight overall for 32 straight years with four overall championships in 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2018. In the 2024-2025 Hearst program, WKU finished first in the Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition, second in the Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition, and ninth in the Intercollegiate Audio, Television, Podcast Competition.

WKU students have won 18 Hearst individual national championships since 1985 — photojournalism in 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2025; multimedia in 2015, 2023 and 2024; writing in 1985; and radio news in 2006.

Contact: School of Media & Communication at (270) 745-4144.

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Western Kentucky University prides itself on positioning its students, faculty and staff for long term success. As a student-centered, applied research university, our students expand on classroom learning by integrating education with real-world applications in the communities we serve. Our hilltop campus is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, which was recently named by Reader’s Digest as one of the nicest towns in America, just an hour’s drive from Nashville, Tennessee.