Three BYU students traveled to San Francisco June 7, 2006 to compete in the final round of the annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program, and set records for BYU.

"This year we sent more students than we've ever sent," said Dale Green, broadcast production manager for NewsNet. "We've had finalists, but it's been five or six years since we sent anyone out to San Francisco."

The three students, Danielle Wood, Florence Chen and Ryan McIlvain, and their combined final standings earned BYU second place in the competition.

"Our students stayed right with the competition," Green said. "It was all really close."

Danielle Wood, a junior from Reno, Nev., majoring in broadcast journalism, took third in the radio division.

She called the competition scary, terrifying and intimidating, but walked away from the experience confident in her reporting skills.

"I realized I have the ability to enterprise a story," she said. "After finishing the story, I felt so accomplished because it was such a challenge."

Competitors received a story assignment the night they arrived at the competition. The next two days were a blur of finding interviews, navigating an unfamiliar city, editing footage and scripts and meeting deadlines.

"It was fun," said Florence Chen, a senior from Houston majoring in broadcast journalism. "It also was sleepless nights, days of worrying, hours of researching and missed meals."

Yet, after it was all over, she wanted to do it again.

Both Chen and McIlvain finished in the top five of 400 to 800 applicants.

Chen was a finalist in the television broadcast division and the only television finalist from BYU in 10 years.

The Hearst competition is a national program for undergraduate students at accredited journalism schools organized by The William Randolph Hearst Foundations. The panel of judges comprised industry professionals.

"The Hearst people were impressed with our students," Green said.

The competition began June 7 and ended June 10 in a formal awards ceremony held in the San Francisco Asian Art Museum. Winners were awarded scholarships ranging from $1,500 to $5,000 and their schools received matching grants.

Copyright Brigham Young University 20 Jun 2006