2025 Broadcast Reporting (News) Finalists
Jillian Forstadt
90.5 WESA
Double Jeopardy: From Classroom to Courtroom
- Her Pittsburgh-area school took her to court at the end of senior year. She left with a $500 fine.
- Allegheny County judges call fines a ‘last resort.’ Youth were still fined almost $100K last year.
Comments From the Judges:
“Excellent reporting with focus on an important aspect of citations that affect schools and students. The newsy aspect here is students getting court citations for behaviors that might not warrant ANY court actions in any state schools. What’s going on? The inequity of this school justice system highlights injustices.”
“It is a great, deeply reported story that combined the best of the new journalism tools (data reporting) with the strongest storytelling best practices (interviews with real people and engaging story structure). This was not a new story but an in-depth look that should make anyone who has paid attention to the way penalties and punishments are directed at children (especially young women) even angrier than before.”
Dylan Peers McCoy, Lee V. Gaines, Eric Weddle, Nicole Cohen & Lauren Migaki
WFYI & NPR
Reporting on Special Education
- Families say school civil rights investigations have stalled after federal cuts
- ‘Why am I so bad?’ Indiana schools suspend tens of thousands of students with disabilities
Comments From the Judges:
“Impressive reporting, especially now after the Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Education has been decimated. Nice job showing how federal cuts have impacted the rights of students with disabilities.”
“Compelling, interesting and thorough. I appreciated that we heard from those impacted by the policy change but most importantly the architects behind the policy. I feel like I walked away with a full understanding of the issue, the players and the implications. Well done.”
Megan Pauly, Dean Mirshahi, Hannah Davis-Reid, Dawnthea Price Lisco, Sean McGoey, Meghin Moore, Whittney Evans, Shaban Athuman & Elliott Robinson
VPM
The Trump Effect on Higher Education in Virginia
- Federal funding freeze impacts Gilman scholarships in Virginia
- Federal judge orders reinstatement of funds for VCU teacher program
- VCU protest spotlights cancellation of student visas at Virginia colleges
- Trump administration restores Virginia student visa records
- Former VCU diversity staffers: ‘It’s hard to even process’
- VCU hires outside firm to oversee federal anti-DEI compliance
- UVA President Jim Ryan resigns under pressure from Trump DOJ
- VCU removes references to race from scholarship language
Comments From the Judges:
“Eight short news stories about how the government is forcing local schools to cut funding for scholarships and grants for DEI, closing DEI centers and shutting down DEI websites. Well reported and interesting to see what happens as time goes on with this story. They really stuck with this important story and I was interested until the end.”
“These kinds of pieces can require a discipline long-form sometimes allows a reporter to dodge, the necessity to pick just the most important part of the day’s news and explain it in a minute or less to someone on their way to work (who may not stay in the car to hear the end of that long-form piece). This entry shows a true commitment to public service when it comes to reporting on education.”
