UFCJC Alumna Honored in Inaugural 2024-25 Hearst Journalism Awards Podcast Competition

May 14, 2025

University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) alumna Serra Sowers has placed 18th in the inaugural 2024-25 Hearst Journalism Awards Journalism Podcast Competition. The contest received 54 entries from 32 schools.

Sowers entry, “The Point Podcast: Communism in the Classroom” published on wuft.org on April 23, 2024, features an interview with Melissa Erickson, the Executive Director of the Alliance for Public Schools Foundation and a former educator. The episode explores  a new bill that mandated classroom instruction of communism as early as elementary school and why some parents are upset.

Sowers was advised by Innovation News Center Multimedia Reporter and Producer Áine Pennello and Multimedia Content Producer Kristin Moorehead.

Currently, UFCJC is in fifth place in the Intercollegiate Audio/Television/Podcast Competition.

To view the list of current UFCJC 2024-25 Hearst Journalism Award winners, visit: https://www.jou.ufl.edu/2025/04/15/ufcjc-students-honored-in-2024-25-hearst-journalism-awards-competition/

The 65th annual Hearst Journalism Awards Program added broadcast journalism to the competitions in 1988. The program also includes four writing, two photojournalism and four multimedia competitions offering up to $700,000 in scholarships, matching grants and stipends.

There are 105 universities of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication with accredited undergraduate journalism programs that are eligible to participate in the Hearst competitions.

Category: Alumni News, College News, Student News
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