By Vish Gopal

Brigham Young University broadcast journalism students have a story to tell.

The BYU broadcast journalism program was recently recognized as the sixth best in the nation out of 112 accredited journalism programs at the Hearst Journalism Award ceremony held in New York.

“It was an honor to be recognized as one of the top 10 broadcast journalism programs in the country this year,” said Brad Rawlins, Department Chair of the BYU Communications program. “It was especially meaningful because it was the 50th anniversary of the Hearst Awards. These awards are considered the Pulitzer Prize for college students.”

The Hearst Journalism Awards Program was founded in 1960 to provide support, encouragement and assistance to journalism education at the college and university levels. The program awards scholarships to students for outstanding performance in college level journalism, with matching grants to the students’ schools.

The scholarship money is awarded to the top ten students in four different broadcast categories. Each school receives points based on how many of their students are recognized in those categories. The schools with the highest point totals are given a national ranking.

The recognition from the Hearst Foundation is a great accomplishment for the BYU Broadcast Journalism program.

“I think it’s fantastic that we had an opportunity to have our students participate in this competition,” said Chad Curtis, manager of the BYU Daily News. “For me, the ultimate take away is that BYU students can compete on any stage when it comes to broadcast journalism and do very, very well.”

The broadcast program has a long-standing tradition of performing well in these types of awards.

“With the experience and knowledge of our broadcast faculty, Daily News administration and staff, and our friends at KBYU, our students receive an excellent education to help channel their talent into award-winning performances,” Rawlins said.

This year, the Hearst Journalism Awards Program received more entries than ever before. BYU seniors Logan Daniels and Garrett Tenney represented BYU.

“It was a big privilege to be among people who love doing what I love doing,” Daniels said.

Tenney described his experience as “neat and humbling.”

“It presented me with a lot of opportunities to meet famous professionals from the field of journalism,” Tenney said.