College of Media students Duncan Slade and Gillian Wanosky each placed 14th in the 62nd annual Hearst Journalism Awards competition for stories published in 2021.
Slade, a senior journalism student, placed 14th in the Hearst Feature Writing Competition for his story, “Less money, fewer jobs: After two decades, WV’s ATV trails have fallen far short of initial projections,” published in Mountain State Spotlight in August 2021. Slade was an intern with Mountain State Spotlight at the time. He has also interned with West Virginia Public Broadcasting, does freelance work for PolitiFact and is the editor in chief at The Daily Athenaeum, WVU’s official student newspaper. His photographs have appeared in The Washington Post, including one of a West Virginia family that was featured on the front page in October 2021 accompanying the story, “Raising kids is work.”
“I am grateful to be recognized by the Hearst Foundation,” Duncan said. “This story was possible because of editors at Mountain State Spotlight who guided my reporting and edited my work, the many officials and residents in southern West Virginia who were generous with their time, and the librarians and archivists who helped me with all manners of documents and records. Without the excellent teaching of Reed College of Media professors like Lois Raimondo, Tom Stewart, Jesse Wright, Emily Corio and others, I would not have been equipped to tell this story."
Wanosky (BSJ, 2021), a current graduate student in the College’s Integrated Marketing Communications program, placed 14th in the Television Features Competition for her WVU News broadcast feature on a local Morgantown typewriter collector. Wanosky was a main anchor for “WVU News,” the College’s award-winning newscast, in spring 2021 when the story aired. Wanosky double-majored in journalism and dance and has had several internships throughout her college career. She graduated at the top of her class in May 2021, earning a cumulative GPA of 4.0 and receiving the College of Media’s Top Scholar award. Her work has also been published in The Washington Post.
“Placing in the prestigious Hearst Competition was an amazing surprise for me, and I think it’s a reflection of the hard work that all the students and I put into ‘WVU News,’” Wanosky said. “Being part of this school and this program has been an incredible experience. I am especially grateful for Professor Gina Martino Dahlia, as she helped me become a better storyteller and a better person. She helped build my confidence, and she continues to teach me life lessons that I’ll always carry with me.”
There were 148 entries from 80 schools submitted in the Hearst feature writing competition and 95 entries from 57 schools submitted in the television features competition. The Hearst competition includes five awards in writing, two in television, two in photojournalism, one audio, and four in multimedia. Entries in each category are judged by a panel of three media professionals from across the country who specialize in the respective area. The Hearst Journalism Awards program offers up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends for winners.
The competition is open only to universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs. The WVU Reed College of Media is one of only 115 journalism/communication programs accredited worldwide by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications.
College of Media students have placed in the Hearst Journalism competition several times in the past and have received countless other awards for published work. Visit mediacollege.wvu.edu/discover/awards for a full list of student awards.