2024 News (Education-Only Outlets) Winners

About the Winners:

After the Supreme Court banned affirmative action in college admissions, many worried about the ruling’s ripple effects. The Hechinger Report took a painstakingly thorough look into these dramatic effects this year, resulting in two deeply reported enterprise stories and a poignant collection of student college-application essays.

The project began last spring, with a call-out for students willing to share their application essays and explain what they feared or hoped in writing them. In the first application season after the Supreme Court ruling, this class was under pressure to decide on their own if they would disclose their racial identities, something that in the past might have counted in their favor. The reporting team read more than 50 essays and talked to many students about their choices; they chose eight to feature, with excerpts from their essays.

Comments From the Judges:

“Smart package with thorough reporting that centered student voices to detail the consequences [of] the [Supreme Court’s] 2023 decision to ban colleges from considering race. Particularly liked the alternative story format with students’ first person essays and what they decided to write when their race could no longer be considered.”

“The effort to go into the experiences of individual students with affirmative action – and the innovative ways these stories were told – was truly impressive. The depth and breadth of reporting on race-related admissions and financial aid policies and the impact of scholarships and opportunities was very strong – and struck an excellent balance between engaging personal stories and critical contextual information.”

Photo credit: Terra Fondriest for The Hechinger Report; Rosem Morton for The Hechinger Report