For the third consecutive year, the University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications has won the annual Intercollegiate Writing Competition of the prestigious William Randolph Hearst Writing Foundation Awards competition.

Three of the finalists went on to compete, and place highly, in the Hearst Championships in San Francisco in June, which are the culmination of the 2008-2009 Journalism Awards Program.

“The KU School of Journalism continues to foster and support excellence in writing,” Journalism Dean Ann Brill said. “This win validates what we are doing here to give students the tools they will need to be successful communicators in a very complex media environment. KU is indeed ‘a great place to be a champion.’ We are proud of the students and faculty whose hard work and talent brought this championship home to KU for the third year in a row.”

Often called "The Pulitzers of College Journalism," the Hearst program holds an annual, year-long competition in writing. The journalism school that accumulates the most points earned by its students in each category of the six writing competitions, titled the Intercollegiate Writing Competition, is designated the winner.

“It was a very big year for University Daily Kansan reporters, topped off by finishing one-two in the most prestigious category, In-Depth Writing,” Journalism Professor Ted Frederickson said. “Our basketball team won the Big 12 and made it to the sweet 16, but two KU reporters who covered them finished higher—first and fifth nationally in the Sports Writing competition. Another Kansan sports reporter, Thor Nystrom, visited a darker topic in ‘To Hell and Back,’ which won the Rolling Stone writing competition and then finished second in the Hearst Feature category.”

KU finished ahead of the University of Missouri, Northwestern University, Arizona State University and the University of Kentucky, who rounded out the top five.

“It has been very competitive between KU and the three schools who have been right behind us the last three years, namely Missouri, Northwestern and Arizona State,” Frederickson said. “They are very strong journalism programs, and it is an honor to finish ahead of them for three straight years.”

“What impresses me most about their stories is how different they all are from each other,” Frederickson said. “Matt Erickson won first in the In-Depth category with traditional depth reporting on the recording industry’s crackdown on college music downloading. Megan Hirt took second with a compelling narrative about students with alcohol problems. Mark Dent took third in Profile Writing with his profile of June Henley, onetime KU football star and now a prison inmate, whose life fell apart when his football career ended. Jeff Deters placed eighth with his story about Julian Wright, a 20-year-old millionaire by virtue of his lavish NBA contract.”

KU journalism students have won a total of $10,600 in the contests this year, and the School of Journalism received matching funds of $10,600, plus an additional $10,000 for finishing first in the Intercollegiate Writing Competition.

Three KU journalism students, Matt Erickson, Rustin Dodd and Mark Dent, traveled to San Francisco in June 2009 to compete in the national writing championships. Mark Dent finished second, receiving a $4,000 scholarship; Rustin Dodd finished third, receiving a $3,000 scholarship; and Matt Erickson won a $1,000 award for Best Reporting Technique for his article in The University Daily Kansan titled "Facing the Music."  Erickson also received $1,500 for being a finalist in the competition. All were lauded by the judges as talented journalists. 

The Hearst Awards Program is conducted under the auspices of accredited schools of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, and fully funded and administered by the W.R. Hearst Foundation. It consists of six monthly writing, three photojournalism and four broadcast news competitions and one multimedia competition, with championship finals in all divisions except multimedia. The program awards up to $550,000 in scholarships and grants annually.

Publisher William Randolph Hearst established the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and The Hearst Foundation, Inc. in the 1940s, before his death in 1951. Since then, the foundations have awarded more than $500 million in grants and programs.

Judging the writing competition this year were: Arthur S. Brisbane, ASB Consulting, East Dennis, Mass.; Jeff Cohen, executive vice president and editor, Houston Chronicle, Texas; and Peter Bhatia, executive editor, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore.

For more information, contact Jennifer Kinnard, communications coordinator for the KU School of Journalism, at 785-760-4117 or jkinnard@ku.edu. For more information about the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, contact Jan Watten, program director, at 415-908-4565 or jwatten@hearstfdn.org, or visit www.hearstawards.org.

More on the winning stories and writers from KU:

Matt Erickson, senior from Olathe, Kan., placed first in the In-Depth Writing competition and received a $2,000 award. His story was published April 30, 2008, in The University Daily Kansan. The story, “Facing the music: File-sharing lawsuits, delay by University prove costly for 13 students,” is online at: www.kansan.com/stories/2008/apr/30/facing_music/

Megan Hirt, December 2008 journalism graduate from Topeka, Kan., placed second in In-Depth Writing and received $1,500. Her story, “A Sobering Struggle," appeared in the Dec. 3, 2008, issue of the Kansan, and is online at: www.kansan.com/stories/2008/dec/03/sobering_struggle/

Rustin Dodd, senior from Overland Park, Kan., placed first in the Sports Writing competition. He received a $2,000 scholarship. His story, “For the Love of the Game,” appeared in the April 28, 2008, issue of the Kansan, and is online at: www.kansan.com/stories/2008/apr/28/love_game/

Mark Dent, senior from Overland Park, Kan., placed fifth in the Sports Writing competition, and received $600. His story, “Athletes with Children,” was published in the Jan. 23, 2008, issue of the Kansan and is online at: www.kansan.com/stories/2008/jan/23/athletes_children

Thor Nystrom, 2008 journalism graduate from Baxter, Minn., placed second in the Feature Writing competition and received $1,500. His story, “To Hell and Back,” ran in the May 5, 2008, issue of the Kansan. It is online at: www.kansan.com/stories/2008/may/05/hell_and_back

Mark Dent, senior from Overland Park, Kan., placed third in the Personality/Profile Writing competition and received $1,000. His article, “ Nowhere to run,” ran in the April 25, 2008, Kansan. It is online at: www.kansan.com/stories/2008/apr/25/henley/

Jeff Deters, 2008 journalism graduate from Centralia, Kan., placed eighth in the Personality/Profile Writing competition and received $500. His story, “Living the Wright Life,” appeared in the April 17, 2008, issue of the Kansan. It is online at: www.kansan.com/stories/2008/apr/17/julian/

Patrick Luiz Sullivan de Oliveira, senior from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, placed eighth in the Editorial Writing competition, winning a $500 scholarship. His editorial, “Why maintaining the T is moral issue,” was published in the Nov. 3, 2008, issue of the Kansan. It is online at: www.kansan.com/stories/2008/nov/03/oliveira_why_maintaining_t_moral_issue

Eight other KU Journalism students earned points in the writing competitions but did not place in the top ten in their categories. Their points contributed to KU winning first in the Intercollegiate Writing Competition. They were: Alexandra Garry, Spot News Writing; Jesse Trimble, Spot News Writing; Lauren Keith, Editorial Writing; and Sasha Roe, Feature Writing.

Jon Goering, senior from Hesston, Kan., took third place in the Photojournalism competition, and received a $1,000 award. See his photos online at: http://www.journalism.ku.edu/news/goering-hearst.shtml. Chance Dibben, Julianne Kueffer and Tyler Waugh also earned points in the Photojournalism competition, but did not place in the top ten.

Wendy McCart earned points in the Broadcast News competition, but did not place in the top ten.