Summit Country Day School alumna wins national journalism award

The prestigious college-level Hearst Journalism Awards added a podcast competition, keeping pace with changes in media. Sophia Young from Cincinnati won first place in Hearst’s inaugural podcast contest.

Young graduated from The Summit Country Day School in 2020; Ohio University in 2024.

Nationwide, 32 colleges submitted entries to the Hearst podcast competition. Young’s award-winning entry was a five-part series examining an industry that treats “trouble teens.”

“My podcast ‘Troubled Treatment’ not only takes a closer look at how an industry marketed as a supportive environment for teenagers failed those it was meant to help, but also sheds light on how troubled-teen industry (TTI) survivors are continuing to break the silence surrounding their experiences,” Young said.

After 2024 graduation from Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, Young joined WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh as a photographer.

Her multimedia college experience included work at the student-run publication The Post in Athens and the student bureau of Ohio University’s communication/marketing office. In 2023, Young completed a public affairs internship at U.S. Army ROTC Cadet Command in Fort Knox, Kentucky.