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Update June 12, 2025:

Congratulations to two journalism students for their outstanding accomplishments at the

won first place and a $10,000 scholarship award in Hearst’s National Audio Championship. was named a finalist and won a $1,500 scholarship award for Hearst’s National Writing Championship.

Both Nazarova and Holcomb advanced to the Hearst Championships, the culmination of the 2024-25 Hearst Journalism Awards Program, held May 31-June 5 in San Francisco, California, to complete assignments under deadlines that were judged by media professionals.

Nazarova’s assignment was to聽produce a two-minute story on the following topic: 鈥淒emonstrate how one of President Trump鈥檚 executive orders is having an impact on life in the San Francisco Bay Area. Choose from one of the following subject areas: immigration, higher education, tariffs, the economy, DEI.鈥�

Holcomb’s assignment was to write two articles: a news story from an interview with Executive Chair and Director of TPG Inc. Jim Coulter, and an article about how one of President Trump鈥檚 executive orders is affecting the Bay Area.

The Hearst Championships, often referred to as the 鈥淧ulitzers of College Journalism,鈥� included 29 student journalists from across the country. The finalists were selected from 1,260 entries submitted in 14 competitions held throughout the academic year.

Original story published May 20, 2025:

A six-student team won first place in the , and two students won individual awards including first place in and fourth place in .

Journalism students Maggie Knutte, Nathan Gonzalez, Piper Pascarella, Nour Longi, and Faith Lee, and agricultural communications student Elena Cleary earned first place and a $3,000 scholarship for a documentary on period poverty titled “Tailoring Hope,鈥� which was one of 60 entries submitted from 35 schools in the multimedia competition.

Additional credit for the documentary goes to 2024 Illinois journalism alum Stephanie Wayda and Fourah Bay College students Amadu Lamrana Bah, Stella Fredricka Bangura, Ola Deen, Nuhu Jalloh, Alpha Janneh, Aminata Kamara, Kelfala Kargbo, Rose-Lyn Koroma, and Hanna Aba Yankson.

The project is the inaugural work of the Illinois Partnership for African Women鈥檚 Health Narratives, an interdisciplinary initiative that empowers early-career African and American journalism and media students to research, produce, and disseminate the true stories of grassroots innovations to women鈥檚 health challenges in Africa鈥攍everaging the humanizing power of first-person, character-driven storytelling to raise awareness and drive meaningful change.

“Tailoring Hope” focuses on Uman Tok, a nongovernmental organization based in Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa, which aims to alleviate period poverty and menstrual exclusion and educate girls and boys about sexual and reproductive health awareness. Read more about the making of the documentary.

Watch here:

Madison Holcomb, a senior in journalism, won first place in Explanatory Reporting and a $3,000 scholarship for her piece on livestock fatalities during transportation. The story was published in Investigate Midwest.

Layli Nazarova, a junior in journalism, won fourth place in Audio News and a $1,000 scholarship for her stories on campus accessibility and the designation of the Middle Eastern North African Census.

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program was founded in 1960 to provide support, encouragement, and assistance to journalism education at the college and university level.