The Hearst Journalism Awards Program was founded in 1960 to provide support, encouragement and assistance to journalism education at the college and university level.

The program awards scholarships to students for outstanding performance in journalism, with matching grants to the students’ schools. The 61st annual program, offering up to $700,000 in awards, consisted of five monthly writing competitions, two photojournalism competitions, one audio competition, two television competitions and four multimedia competitions — with championship finals in all divisions.

The 61st annual Hearst National Journalism Awards Championship was the culmination of the 2020–2021 monthly competitions. Twenty-nine finalists with top scores from the 1,325 competition entries submitted this academic year qualified for the Championships.

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the event was held virtually once again. The finalists met with their judges via videoconference and produced their assignments from home. Judges reviewed the work and selected the winners, who were announced at the live-streamed awards ceremony on June 14, 2021.