J-school students place in Hearst individual championships

May 2013 graduates Melissa Abbey and Julia Wall placed second in the writing and multimedia categories, respectively, of the Hearst Journalism Awards individual national championships. Averi Harper, also a May graduate, finished third in television broadcast.

Kathryn Carlson (multimedia), Michael Rodriguez (radio broadcast) and Carolyn Van Houten (photojournalism) also competed in the championships, which were held June 3-7 in San Francisco. UNC was the only school to have at least one student participating in each category.

During the awards ceremony, Van Houten was recognized for the single best image and Wall for the best use of multimedia from previous competitions.

The school finished second overall — and first in broadcast — in the Intercollegiate Competition of the Hearst Journalism Awards, often called the Pulitzers of college journalism. 

The school's overall second-place finish resulted from students placing in monthly writing, photojournalism, broadcast and multimedia competitions during the 2012-13 school year. In addition to placing first in broadcast, the school placed second in multimedia, fourth in photojournalism and 10th in writing. 

The school will receive $10,000 for winning first place in the broadcast competition and $4,000 for the second-place finish in multimedia.

The school finished third overall in 2011-12 and before that won back-to-back national championships. Hussman School student Jon Kasbe won the individual national championship in multimedia last year.