COLLEGE PARK — Ricky Podgorski ’25 placed second in the prestigious Hearst Journalism Awards Program’s national television championship, leading several students from the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism who performed well in this year’s competition.
Often called the “Pulitzers of college journalism,” the Hearst program holds yearlong competitions in writing, photojournalism, audio, television and multimedia for journalism undergraduates.
Podgorski claimed his spot in the national championships by placing sixth in the Television II: News competition and eighth in the Television I: Features contest. That helped Merrill College finish sixth in the Intercollegiate Audio/Television/Podcast Competition.
The national championships gathered 29 finalists across five categories (and 1,260 total entries) to complete spot assignments on deadline in San Francisco from May 31 to June 5. Podgorski won $7,500 for taking second.
Podgorski is the first Merrill College student to place in the Hearst national championships since Kate DeBlasis ’21 took third in the 2021 multimedia competition. He is the highest Merrill College placer since James Crabtree-Hannigan ’19 won the national writing competition in 2019.
Several other Merrill students performed well in this year’s Hearst program.
Kiersten Hacker ’24, Christina Walker ’25 and Ela Jalil ’26 combined to finish sixth in the Writing: Explanatory competition.
Jenna Bloom ’25 placed seventh in the Multimedia I: Narrative Video Storytelling competition. In the Multimedia II: Innovative Journalism contest, Molly Szymanski ’24 finished 16th and Dylan Jaffe ’25 placed 19th.
Jess Daninhirsch ’26 took 12th place in the Photo: Story/Series competition.
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program operates under the auspices of the accredited schools of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication. Presently, 105 colleges and universities with accredited undergraduate journalism schools are eligible to participate in the Hearst Journalism Awards Program. Funded and administered for 65 years by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Journalism Program awards up to $700,000 in scholarships, grants and stipends annually.
For more information, contact:
Josh Land, Communications Manager
joshland@umd.edu