2020 Features (Midsize Newsroom) Finalists

‘It’s Creating a New Normal’: A Navajo School District and Its Students Fight to Overcome Amid COVID-19
Anthony J. Wallace and Megan Marples
Cronkite News at Arizona State University

Comments from the judges: “Excellent multi-media storytelling that went behind the expected pandemic story to detail the lengths to which Navajo children and their teachers were going to help them continue learning. Kudos to the reporters for their deep reporting at a time when families are understandably having to keep their distance.”

The Broken Promise of Alexander v. Holmes
Bracey Harris
The Hechinger Report

Comment from the judges: “The writing is sharp, particularly the lede on the first story, which packs a powerful punch and highlights someone with the important perspective of teaching at the school she attended. When Covid hit, the project pivoted to cover that and brought needed attention to a part of the country that doesn’t get enough. “

Traveling to the African Diaspora to Prepare Black Students for College
Casey Parks
The Hechinger Report

Comment from the judges: “This story masterfully took a simple thing like a trip abroad and skillfully used it as a vehicle to tell a much larger story about race and education, weaving in the stories of the principal and a student and a city and the vision to change it with charter schools. It ends with a perfect almost poetic kicker.”

x
Latest
Podcast
badge-arrow
Podcast
Donate