Two Elon University broadcast journalism majors finished in the top 10 in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program Broadcast News Competition II category.
Senior Drew Smith finished third and will now compete for a slot in the final competition in San Francisco. Junior Sam Baranowski finished 10th. Only accredited schools of communication and journalism are eligible to compete for a Hearst Award, which is often called the Pulitzer Prize of college journalism.
Both students are active participants in Elon’s student produced, weekly newscast, Phoenix14News. Smith, who has been involved with the show since he first came to Elon, is currently the program’s news director.
“It’s a true honor to be recognized by the Hearst Foundation,” Smith said. “It’s a nice final achievement in my journalism education at Elon and a validation of the hard work we do to tell compelling television news stories.”
Baranowski has also been involved with the show since her first year at Elon. This is the second top 10 finish this year for her. Earlier, she placed seventh in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program’s Television Broadcast Features Competition I.
“This wouldn’t have been possible without our amazing staff at Phoenix14News putting their tireless effort into each show, so I thank them wholeheartedly.”
Communications associate professor Rich Landesberg is the newscast adviser.
“Drew and Sam are very talented and well deserving of this recognition,” Landesberg said. “Their consistently high quality work reflects the determined effort of the entire newscast team.”
Elon finished seventh overall in the nation in the Hearst broadcast journalism competition.