Daily Iowan reporter Nina Earnest has been awarded second place in the 2010 Hearst Foundation feature-writing contest.

She was recognized for her work on an article "Education on hyper drive," published Oct. 28, which told the story of four gifted siblings between the ages of 10 and 16 enrolled at the University of Iowa.

Earnest spent six weeks meeting with the eldest sibling, Gohar Manzar — a first-year biomedical-engineering doctoral student — and her family.

Earnest said she was thankful for the support she received while pursuing the story.

"I just feel very grateful to the staff at The Daily Iowan and to the Manzar family for being so willing to share their story," the UI junior said.

The Hearst competition is considered to be the most prestige award for collegiate journalism. The program awards up to $500,000 in scholarships and grants annually.

Earnest, a journalism major, will receive a scholarship of $2,000.

Approximately 140 students from a record 79 universities participated in the program’s first competition of this academic year. Student journalists from more than 110 collegiate journalism programs across the country were eligible for the contest.

Paul Casella of Pennsylvania State University was awarded first place.

— by Hayley Bruce