Van Houten wins Hearst national championship in multimedia, Shelton third in radio

UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media senior Carolyn Van Houten won first place in the multimedia competition of the Hearst Journalism Awards National Championships held June 2-6 in Washington, D.C.

Senior Charlie Shelton placed third in the radio broadcast individual championship, and May 2014 graduate Landon Dowdy was a national finalist in the television broadcast championship.

Since the multimedia competition began four years ago, UNC has won the individual championship three times. Margaret Cheatham Williams won 2011, Jon Kasbe in 2012 and Van Houten in 2014. Julia Wall placed second in 2013.

Van Houten, Shelton and Dowdy competed against other winners from the 14 monthly competitions, demonstrating their writing, photography, radio, television and multimedia skills in rigorous on-the-spot assignments.  The assignments were decided by media professionals who judged the finalists’ work throughout the year and at the championships. The winners were announced during the final awards ceremony on June 5 at the Newseum.

The school finished fourth overall in the 2014 Intercollegiate Competition of the Hearst Journalism Awards. The school has placed top 5 overall every year since 2004. The school placed third in the photojournalism, broadcast news and multimedia competitions.

The overall fourth-place finish resulted from students placing in monthly writing, photojournalism, broadcast and multimedia competitions during the 2013-14 school year. The school finished second overall in 2012-13 and third in 2011-12 and before that won back-to-back national championships.