An IowaWatch multimedia series by Emily Hoerner when she was an IowaWatch reporter has been awarded ninth place in the William Randolph Hearst Foundation’s 2012-13 College Multimedia Journalism competition.
Hoerner’s series, Path to Polarization, explored how politics has been politicized in Iowa and nationally.
Hoerner wrote the stories as an honors project at the University of Iowa School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Her honors adviser was Stephen Berry, an associate professor at the school and IowaWatch’s co-founder. The series was published by IowaWatch and distributed to Iowa news media for their use in November.
Hoerner, originally from Dubuque, graduated from the University of Iowa in December 2012 with two degrees, in journalism and mass communication, and political science. She was a scholarship fellow and delivered the student address at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences graduation ceremony.
IowaWatch is part of the Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism, a non-profit, independent organization that produces investigative and public affairs journalism, fosters collaborations with other news media, and trains students interested in this kind of long-form, in-depth journalism and who want their work published. The Center was founded by Robert Gutsche Jr., then a University of Iowa PhD student, and Berry, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who also serves as an adviser and board member for the Center. IowaWatch’s main newsroom is in Iowa City but student journalists from the UI, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa are part of IowaWatch.
The Hearst Journalism Awards Program, founded in 1960, is a prestigious organization supporting journalism education and awarding outstanding journalism students.
The complete list of winners for the 2012-13 College Multimedia Journalism competition:
- First Place, Savannah Smith, Pennsylvania State University
- Second Place, Julia Michelle Wall, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Third Place, Andrew Dickson, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- Fourth Place, Ben Severance, Western Kentucky University
- Fifth Place, Morgan Spiehs, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
- Sixth Place, Sam Wilson, University of Montana
- Seventh Place, Allison Russell, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Eighth Place, Kaitlynn Lebeau, Kent State University
- Ninth Place, Emily Hoerner, University of Iowa
- Tenth Place, Greg Asciutto, University of Southern California
Another IowaWatch story recognized, in the Hearst Foundation’s News Writing Contest
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