2018 Features (Medium Staff) Finalist: Adeshina Emmanuel
“How It Feels to Be Javion: 16 and Struggling to Read in Chicago Schools”
About the Entry
Journalist Adeshina Emmanuel delivers a profile of a Chicago high school student who reads at a second-grade level, and how the public education system failed to keep him from slipping through the cracks.
Comments from the Judges
“This story is thoroughly reported, highlights a problem that impacts thousands of children, is well written and extremely moving.”
“When centering a story on a single subject, there is a temptation to make the story all about that person and not provide the necessary context and analysis. The reporter provides all the context and analysis a reader needs and still makes the reader feel great compassion for Javion and students like him. Bravo!”