2025 Feature (Small Newsroom) Winner

About the Winner:

Becky Z. Dernbach gave a rare look into the lives of new immigrant students and their families after obtaining permission to regularly visit a classroom.

“When Trump was reelected, conversations in the classroom shifted more toward politics — and fear of immigration authorities,” Dernbach said. “I decided to focus on individual students in the classroom and their families, which allowed me to build trust with kids and their parents, creating a deep informed consent process.”

“To protect my sources, we decided to use first names, nicknames or familial relationships,” she explained. “We also hired an illustrator to create deeply personal visuals of the students without providing photographs that immigration authorities could scan into their AI database.”

Comments From the Judges:

“A remarkable story impressive in both the time devoted to reporting it and the writing. Shows real commitment on the part of the author. Wonderfully captured the developments in the academic lives of the students as well as the political changes on a national basis swirling around them.”

“A well-crafted, beautifully told story. The story offered amazing access into the lives of these students and teachers with great narrative writing. The story provided gripping details about the journeys of these families to the United States. The writer did a nice job explaining the work the teachers did to acclimate the students and help them learn about Halloween, how to move after Trump’s inauguration and managing traffic stops.”

Photo credits: Aaron Nesheim/Sahan Journal