Vanover places second in national competition

Ohio County native, Hannah Vanover, was among two former Western Kentucky University photojournalism students to be honored in the second multimedia competition of the 2021-2022 Hearst Journalism Awards program, often called “the Pulitzers of college journalism.”

Vanover, formerly of Beaver Dam, finished second in the Multimedia Innovative Storytelling and Audience Engagement Competition and received a $2,000 award for her entry titled, “Invisible.” WKU’s School of Media receives a matching award.

This project was Vanover’s senior capstone project that she worked on all of her last semester before graduating in May.

“I am so honored that so many people saw so much potential in this,” she said. “I feel so thankful to receive this award for something that was so much more than just a grade to me, but a true passion project.”

The project is about uncovering the reality of illnesses and symptoms that cannot be seen. In an attempt to bring to light what it looks and feels like for those fighting battles that are naked to the eye, Vanover spoke to multiple individuals

asking them to explain in metaphors what their symptoms feel like.

“I knew before even entering college that I wanted to do something similar to this,” she said. It wasn’t until halfway through college that the project became more clear. I developed a more personal connection to invisible illnesses after receiving my own diagnosis. I met so many strong individuals who were inspiring me every day. I began to learn more about what it meant to struggle with invisible symptoms on the daily.”

Vanover hopes this is just the beginning of what is to come for this project.

“I have such high hopes for the mission that I am on – a mission that includes continuing to spread awareness and advocating for those who don’t feel seen or heard. My hope for this project is to educate and inspire people so that we can better understand and accommodate those who need and deserve it,” she said.

Vanover graduated from WKU with a double major in photojournalism and public relations. She served as a freelance writer/photographer at the Ohio County Times-News for more than four years.

After graduation, she accepted an internship with Frome Science in partnership with the Professional Golf Association before accepting a full-time position as a news producer at 13-WMAZ in Macon, Ga. She recently announced that she has taken a new position as a communications officer for Wesleyan College in Central Georgia. It is a private college and the first in the United States to grant a degree to a woman. She will be responsible for “all things communications,” including photos and video work, running the official social media platforms, community outreach, event assistance and press releases.

WKU student, Ivy Ceballo of Plant City, Fla, placed seventh in the Hearst competition.

WKU is in second place in the Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition behind the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill after two of four contests. They are followed by University of Southern California; Arizona State University; San Francisco State University; Pennsylvania State University; University of Missouri; Syracuse University (tie); Brigham Young University (tie); and University of Nevada, Reno.

In 2020-2021, WKU’s School of Media finished second in the Hearst Intercollegiate Multimedia Competition, an event it has won eight times in 10 years; won the Hearst Intercollegiate Photojournalism Competition for the fifth straight year and the 27th time in the past 32 years; and finished third in the Overall Intercollegiate Competition, its 12th straight top five national ranking. WKU has finished in the top eight nationally in the Hearst program for 28 straight years and has won four overall national championships -- 2000, 2001, 2005 and 2018.

WKU students have won 15 Hearst individual national championships since 1985 — photojournalism in 1987, 1988, 1991, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2014 and 2016; multimedia in 2015; writing in 1985; and radio news in 2006.

The Hearst program consists of five writing, two photojournalism, one audio, two television and four multimedia competitions. The points earned by individual students in the monthly competitions determine each discipline’s Intercollegiate ranking. The winners are those schools with the highest accumulated student points in each category.