The College of Journalism and Mass Communications won second place overall in the national 2017 Hearst Intercollegiate Journalism Awards.

The Hearst Intercollegiate Journalism Awards are known as “the Pulitzers of college journalism.” The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill took first place overall, and Western Kentucky University took third.

“It is a great achievement for our students to place second in the Hearst Awards,” said Maria Marron, dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. “Students have to perform at an incredibly high level to win in this competition. Being successful at this level reaffirms the work we do here as well as the talent, hard work and perseverance of our students and faculty.”

The Intercollegiate Awards are broken up into four categories: writing, photojournalism, broadcast and multimedia. The top 10 universities in each category receive a trophy and points that go toward the overall competition.

The college won second place in writing, third place in photojournalism and third place in multimedia. Cash prizes and trophies will be given to the winning universities during the National Championships Intercollegiate Awards ceremony May 31 in San Francisco.

The intercollegiate awards are earned through yearlong, monthly contests. Schools accumulating the most points in each category are designated winners of the competition.

Only programs accredited by the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication may participate in the Hearst Intercollegiate Journalism Awards. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications is one of 106 undergraduate programs in the United States eligible to participate in the program. Funded and administered for 57 years by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Journalism Program awards up to $500,000 in scholarships, grants and stipends annually.