The Winners of the 2026 Rolling Stone College Journalism Awards Are …

Three students from the University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, and Texas A&M shined at this year’s awards

Ever since Rolling Stone was founded in a college dorm room in 1967, we’ve been an outlet for young voices and aspiring journalists. We honor that tradition with the Rolling Stone College Journalism Awards.

Henry Metz (University of Pennsylvania), Seyun Park (Duke University), and Ian Curtis (Texas A&M) are the winners of the 2026 College Journalism Awards. These students impressed us with their discerning angles, diligent research, and captivating storytelling. Their stories are available to read on RollingStone.com now.

Henry Metz’s “‘The Bear’ and the End of Prestige TV” was originally published at the University of Pennsylvania’s 34th Street Magazine, where he is a film/TV editor. Metz’s essay observes how The Bear utilizes the similar techniques as previous Golden Age of Television series (like The Sopranos and Game of Thrones) to exaggerate small-scale conflict to melodramatic proportions. “‘Prestige’ used to mean escalation and consequence, but now it allows intensity without expansion,” he writes. Hailing from upstate New York and now Orlando, Metz is pursuing a dual degree in Economics and Cinema and Media Studies, and he is a 2026 RealArts@Penn Chatsky Intern.

Seyun Park’s story “‘He Likes the Attention’: Stephen Miller, Through the Memories of His Duke Classmates” won in the Feature Writing category. Park interviewed Duke alumni, including some of his former colleagues at their student publication The Chronicle, about their interactions with Miller, creating a portrait of the ever-contentious White House adviser when he was just a Blue Devil studying PoliSci. Park is from Bethesda, Maryland, and in his second year at Duke University. He currently serves as the university news editor for The Duke Chronicle and is pursuing a degree in political science and journalism.

Ian Curtis hit the field of a Savannah Bananas game for his Entertainment Reporting win “‘A Two-Hour Escape’: Inside Savannah Bananas’ Record-Breaking Night at Kyle Field.” The massive exhibition baseball game was attended by more than 100,000 people at Texas A&M’s stadium, and Curtis interviewed attendees, Bananas players and executives, and more while detailing the live-wire contest. Curtis is currently a senior enterprise reporter at The Battalion and formerly its editor-in-chief. He is a member of The New York Times Corps mentorship program and is from College Station, Texas. He will complete his bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2027.

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Established in 1975, the Rolling Stone College Journalism Awards seek to encourage achievement in student journalism and recognize excellence among college newspaper reporters, writers, and editors. Past winners have included Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of the culture-shifting 1994 memoir Prozac Nation; George magazine editor and noted author Richard Bradley; and revered music journalist Chuck Young, who spearheaded Rolling Stone’s coverage of punk rock.