Philip Merrill College of Journalism | University of Maryland

Dixon Advances to Hearst Feature Writing Finals

For immediate release, Nov. 29, 2006

COLLEGE PARK, Md.— Merill College senior Tyeesha Dixon won a $1,000 scholarship and the right to advance to a national competition in San Francisco next spring for her entry in the feature-writing competition of the Hearst Journalism Awards Program.

Dixon's story on the hidden problem of homelessness among cash-strapped university students, "Campus Life is Daily Battle for Homeless Students," appeared in the April 19 edition of The Diamondback, the campus' independent daily newspaper. The story said that some students are ashamed of their condition and others consider it worth putting up with in order to earn a degree and climb out of poverty.

Homeless students contacted by Dixon and officials familiar with the problem said it is easy for such students to be overlooked or to hide in plain sight on college campus, where it is not unusual for students to "sleep in libraries after long periods of studying or shower in the campus facilities after exercising."

Hearst names 20 winners in its monthly competitions. More than 100 accredited journalism schools are eligible to compete in the contests, which include scholarships for the top 10 finishers every month and culminate at the end of the year in a national competition of monthly winners.

Dixon's story won third place out of 114 students from 65 colleges and universities who entered the Hearst contest, sometimes referred to as the Pulitzers of college journalism.

Because the first- and second-place winners graduated from their schools in spring, however, they are not eligible to compete in the national writing championship in San Francisco next spring and Dixon will go to compete for the $5,000 prize.

Hearst competitions are open to full-time undergraduate journalism students only, and this year will award up to $500,000 in scholarships and grants to winning schools and students. Upcoming Hearst competitions include editorial writing in early December; in-depth writing in early January; sports writing in late January; personality/profile writing in late February; and spot news in late March.

The national championship competition will be held June 5-10 in San Francisco.

For more information contact: Matthew C. Sheehan at 301.405.8320.