Luke Mullin and Natalie Saenz — May 2021 graduates of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln — finished as runners-up in their respective categories of the Hearst Journalism Awards National Championships.

Mullin, of Omaha, was a runner-up in the writing competition. Saenz, of Scottsbluff, was a runner-up in the audio competition. She also received the Best Use of Audio for News Coverage award during the competition.

Mullin’s articles from the competition are available here, and Saenz’s audio report is available here.

The Huskers were among 29 students from 20 universities who competed in the National Championships from June 5-14. The championships featured eight writing finalists, six photojournalism finalists, five audio finalists, five television finalists and five multimedia finalists, selected from 1,325 entries received in 14 monthly competitions.

Currently, 104 colleges and universities with accredited undergraduate journalism schools are eligible to participate in the Hearst Journalism Awards. Funded and administered for 61 years by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the program awards up to $700,000 in scholarships, grants and stipends annually.

This year, the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at Nebraska finished eighth in the overall standings.