2022 Finalists for the EGF Accelerator’s Eddie Prize

Jason Gonzales

Chalkbeat & Open Campus

Challenges and Opportunities in Colorado Higher Education

• Rural Colorado students go to college at low rates. Tiny Fowler goes against the trend. 
• Colorado has big gaps in who finishes college. Can a post-pandemic push turn the tide?
• COVID has left students less prepared for higher education. Here’s how colleges are trying to help.

Comments From the Judges:

“The writer has consistently churned out great coverage and is a star beat reporter whose connection to the community flows throughout these pieces. The heart of the package on who is being left behind in Colorado was the most compelling. The overall body of work is incredible and worthy perhaps of being a finalist. The writing and use of data was clear and digestible through the good narrative.”

“I love, love this story. Higher ed reporting often focuses on the huge problems and solutions. But Jason’s granular focus on one high school helps the reader get their arms around a really specific problem and solution.”

Megan Pauly

VPM

Follow-up Coverage to 2021 Dreams Deferred Series

• A former VCU student moved out of her dorm after two weeks, but Virginia took her to court for the full semester’s rent during the pandemic.
• A bill to ban transcript withholding stalled this GA session, but lawmakers aren’t giving up hope
• “No time runs against the king:” State collecting on decades-old college debts

Comments From the Judges:

“Every now and then you read a piece of journalism that makes your blood boil. This piece was that for me and I think for anyone who knows college unlocks opportunities for people to be a better version of themselves. But greed, arcane laws and selective enforcement can create and reinforce inequities. The diversity of those affected also was compelling. While there are various pieces examining the impact of challenges for people of color and lower-income students in this category, this one nails the injustice and how people trying to get a college education often wind up the exception than the rule. It’s these death[s] by papercuts that keep promising students from their potential.”

“Megan did a great job assessing a big, varied problem, and focusing on individual people affected who fell through the cracks. I appreciated the attention to detail and how she explained the specific issues that caused students to be trapped in debt.”

Camille Phillips, Fernando Ortiz Jr., Dan Katz & Jacob Rosati

Texas Public Radio

The Enduring Gap 

• The Enduring Gap
• Ep 2: ‘I don’t like owing anybody money’
• Ep 3: ‘I take head of household’

Comments From the Judges:

“What made this piece grip me was the centering of those who are most affected – college students in the system now – and built out from there with educators, government officials and academic experts of all backgrounds who have studied this issue. I am so exhausted with pieces who talk down to people of color, discuss Latinos like some type of confusing and lesser-than group of people and center the findings and facts in a clinical way. You cannot listen to this and not relate if you ever had any struggle.”

“Fantastic use of research — I love that the journalist had a question, found there was no research on it, and worked with professionals to conduct a robust survey. This podcast is a great format to understand the data through the lens of students, while explaining statistics we always hear as one-liners, with context and nuance.”