Yue Wu, a senior in journalism at Iowa State placed third in the 52nd Hearst Journalism Award’s Photography Finals, earning Wu a $3,000 scholarship.

The national championship was held June 3-7 in San Francisco. The photojournalism judges were Steve Gonzales, director of photography for the Houston Chronicle, Sue Morrow, assistant director of multimedia for the Sacramento Bee, and Jakub Mosur, a freelance photographer in San Francisco.

According to the Hearst organization website, 29 finalists with top scores in 14 different competitions gathered in San Francisco to show off their skills in “on-the-spot assignments and compete for additional scholarship awards of up to $5,000.” 

The photography finalists were given two assignments, according to the Hearst organization, “a picture story about an individual who is part of a San Francisco subculture and a single ‘personal vision’ image.”

Wu was competing against students from schools across the country, including the University of Missouri, Ohio University, Penn State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Western Kentucky University.