Slug Spring 1995
San Francisco State journalism students garnered ten Hearst awards this year, placing our school seventh in writing, seventh in photography, and 10th overall among those that entered the nationwide contest.
According to Jan Watten, a representative of the William R. Hearst Foundation, which gives out the awards, 95 schools are allowed to take part in the contest, but not all of them do. While top honors went to tough competitors like Northwestern University and Arizona State, SF State is "one of the more active schools," and "consistently rates in the top ten," she says.
Of the ten winners in our department, six received substantial cash awards and four received certificates. The two biggest vote-getters were John Wisyanski, who won second place in the In-Depth Writing category for his Prism story on unreinforced masonry buildings, and Carl Holcombe, whose Gater coverage of the Malcolm X mural controversy earned him third place in Spot News Writing.
Photojournalism prizes are awarded for the overally quality of four photographs submitted by each contestant, which may be unrelated or part of an essay. The pictures included here represent a sampling of the winning entries.
The complete list of SFSU winners: