The Education Writers Association would like to express our deep gratitude and thanks to the busy professionals who volunteered their time to evaluate the entries for our journalism awards.
This group of current and former journalists spent long hours carefully evaluating their assigned subsets of the 340 entries for the 2021 National Awards for Education Reporting and the Eddie Prize. (EWA judges weren’t assigned to entries that posed conflicts of interests.)
Our veteran judges told us they were impressed by the caliber of the work from entrants despite the continued controversy over COVID and school district politics. Journalists are still producing top-notch, impactful pieces that reveal important truths about our nation’s education system.
Here are the 2021 judges:
Jenny Abamu, U.S. Department of State
Larry Abramson, The University of Montana
Deborah Becker, WBUR
Dan Berrett, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Leslie Brody, Uncommon Schools
Daarel Burnette II, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Ricardo Cano, San Francisco Chronicle
Wayne Carter, NBC Universal
Rose Ciotta, EdSource
Nicole Cohen, NPR
Shelly Conlon, Argus Leader
Trisha Powell Crain, AL.com
Martha Dalton, WABE
Cheryl Devall, freelance
Francie Diep, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Nichole Dobo, The Hechinger Report
Margaret Downing, Houston Press
Danielle Dreilinger, Gannett
Marsha Ducey, SUNY Brockport
Erin Einhorn, NBC News
Adeshina Emmanuel, Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting
Ron Feemster, freelance
Maritza Félix, Conecta Arizona
Vince Filak, University of Wisconsin
Jason Gonzales, Chalkbeat Colorado
Vincent Gonzales, University of Southern California
Larry Gordon, EdSource
Erica L. Green, The New York Times
Joe Grimm, Michigan State University
Andy Hall, Wisconsin Watch
Reeve Hamilton, Cornell University
LynNell Hancock, Columbia University
Sara Hebel, Open Campus
Tawnell D. Hobbs, The Wall Street Journal
Mark Horvit, University of Missouri
Meghan E. Irons, The Boston Globe
David Jesse, Detroit Free Press
David Kidwell, Better Government Association
Tyler Kingkade, NBC News
Rebecca Koenig, EdSurge
Sonali Kohli, URL Media
Mila Koumpilova, Chalkbeat Chicago
Matt Krupnick, freelance
Frank LoMonte, CNN
Annie Martin, Orlando Sentinel
William Melhado, The Texas Tribune
John Merrow, retired journalist
Dale Mezzacappa, Chalkbeat Philadelphia
Dan Mihalopoulos, WBEZ
Kaitlin Mulhere, Money
Jennifer Pignolet, Akron Beacon Journal
Justin Pope, Longwood University
Leslie Postal, Orlando Sentinel
Chastity Pratt, The Wall Street Journal
Teresa Prout, News & Record
Diane Rado, Florida Phoenix
Sascha Raiyn, WDET
Mónica Rhor, Chalkbeat
Ry Rivard, POLITICO
Dana Roberson, PBS NewsHour
Gail Robinson, freelance
Brian M. Rosenthal, The New York Times
Bob Sacha, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY
Ruth Serven, AL.com
Nirvi Shah, freelance
Kayleigh Skinner, Mississippi Today
Sara Solovitch, Searchlight New Mexico
Eric Stirgus, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ki Sung, MindShift at KQED
Aliyya Swaby, ProPublica
Melissa Barragán Taboada, The Boston Globe
Kenneth Terrell, AARP
Scott Travis, South Florida Sun Sentinel
Peg Tyre, EGF Accelerator
Jackie Valley, The Nevada Independent
Julie Van Leer, Northwestern University
Marlon A. Walker, The Marshall Project
Patrick Wall, Chalkbeat
Matthew Watkins, The Texas Tribune
Linda K. Wertheimer, independent journalist
Bradley Wilson, Midwestern State University
Denise Zapata, CalMatters
Bill Zeeble, KERA