VCU Student Captures National Journalism Award

By Tom Gresham

Tracy Kennedy, who recently completed her freshman year at Virginia Commonwealth University, has received first place in the college multimedia competition of the 49th annual William Randolph Hearst Foundation’s Journalism Awards Program.

Kennedy’s entry was selected from among 78 entries representing 47 undergraduate journalism programs in the multimedia category. Kennedy created the award-winning piece for the Capital News Service, a VCU School of Mass Communications program that provides free, in-depth coverage of the state government to Virginia’s community newspapers. The service’s staff of 20 reporters and six editors covered the General Assembly for approximately 70 outlets this year. Kennedy will receive a $2,000 scholarship from the Hearst Foundation, and VCU will receive a matching grant.

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program is conducted under the auspices of accredited schools of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, and fully funded and administered by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation. It consists of six monthly writing, three photojournalism and four broadcast news competitions and one multimedia competition, with championship finals in all divisions except multimedia. The program awards more than $550,000 in scholarships and grants annually.