EWA Announces Winners of National Reporting Contest
March 15, 2012 – Whether investigating questionable test results, untangling Byzantine school budgets or revealing the hidden lives of homeless schoolchildren, members of the Education Writers Association distinguished themselves in 2011 with stories that were nuanced, affecting and important.
EWA – the only professional organization for members of the news media who specialize in education – each year recognizes excellence on the education beat across multiple media through its National Awards for Education Reporting. In print, radio, television and online, the work of EWA award-winners reaches millions, furthering the association’s mission of increasing the quantity and quality of education coverage across the nation.
For this year’s contest, our panel of judges has selected 61 winning entries from a total of 340 submissions. The winner of the Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Education Reporting will be selected from among the first-place award recipients and will be announced at EWA’s 65th National Seminar in May.
“Recognizing the contest winners will be a highlight of our upcoming conference, which is shaping up to be our most timely and energizing yet,” said Caroline Hendrie, EWA’s executive director.
Contest judging was conducted independently, under the direction of Chief Judge Tamara M. Cooke Henry, Ph.D., of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland.
This year’s panel of distinguished judges were: Abby Brownback, The Gazette; Doug Cumming, Washington & Lee University; Wayne Dawkins, Hampton University; Duchesne Drew, Star Tribune; Steven Drummond, National Public Radio; Elliott Francis, WAMU 88.5; Sarahmaria Gomez, TU Multimedia and Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University; Steve Henderson, Detroit Free Press; Christy DeBoe Hicks, The Century Foundation; Maureen McCarthy, Star Tribune; Carrie Porter, AOL’s Patch; Tracey Wong Briggs, Graduate Management Admission Council; and Mary Jane Smetanka, Star Tribune.
I. PRINT, SMALL MARKET:
A. Single-Day News Coverage or Feature:
First Prize – Fawn Johnson, National Journal, Report Card
Second Prize – Albert Samaha, Riverfront Times, Intentional Grounding
And
Dave Breitenstein, The News-Press, Edison Admits Course Swaps
Special Citation – Dana Goldstein, The American Prospect, The Test Generation
B. Beat Reporting:
First Prize – Goldie Blumenstyk, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Business of Higher Education
Second Prize – Rebecca Harris, Catalyst Chicago, Early Childhood Beat Reporting
And
Dave Breitenstein, The News-Press, Education Beat Reporting
And
Kay Luna, Steven Martens and Rashah McChesney, Quad-City Times, Education in the Quad-Cities
Special Citation – Nancy Walser, Harvard Education Publishing Group, Harvard Education Letter’s Education Coverage
C. Series:
First Prize – Craig DeVrieze and Kay Luna, Quad-City Times, Hidden Homeless
Second Prize – Dave Saltman, Harvard Education Publishing Group, Tech Talk
Special Citation – Rena Havner Philips, Press-Register, Alabama’s Immigration Law
And
Charis Anderson, The Standard-Times, Building Better Schools
D. Investigative Reporting:
First Prize – Cathey O'Donnell and Gary Stern, The Journal News, Too Big to Fix
Second Prize – Nina Shapiro, Seattle Weekly, Deaf Jam
Special Citation – Mc Nelly Torres, Florida Center for Investigative Reporting, School of Hard Financial Knocks
E. Opinion:
First Prize – James Warren, Chicago News Cooperative, James Warren Columns
Second Prize – Colleen Gillard, Harvard Education Publishing Group, Good Teachers (the Movie You Won’t See)
Special Citation – Stephen Lemons, Phoenix New Times, White Lies
And
Caryl Rivers and Rosalind Barnett, Boston University, Opinion Columns
II. PRINT, LARGE MARKET:
A. Single-Day News Coverage or Feature:
First Prize – Gendy Alimurung, LA Weekly, Bad Lunch
Second Prize – Linda Wertheimer, The Boston Globe Magazine, Test of Faith
Special Citation – Liz Bowie, The Baltimore Sun, Slow Turnaround
And
Erin Richards, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Finland
And
Lillian Mongeau, The Dallas Morning News, Bringing Lessons to Life
B. Beat Reporting:
First Prize – John Hechinger, Bloomberg News, Charter Schools, Broken Promises
Second Prize – Daniel de Vise, The Washington Post, A Day to Remember
Special Citation – Sarah Garland, Sarah Butrymowicz, Jon Marcus, Jill Barshay, The Hechinger Report, Hechinger Report Beat Reporting
C. Series:
First Prize – Daniel Golden and Oliver Staley, Bloomberg News, Lost in Translation
Second Prize – Todd Lighty, Stacy St. Clair, Jodi S. Cohen and Ryan Haggerty, Chicago Tribune, Campus Sexual Assaults
Special Citation – Stephanie Ebbert, Jenna Russell, James Vaznis, Akilah Johnson, Meghan E. Irons, Patricia Wen, Andrew Ryan, Maria Sacchetti and the Globe’s video and graphics staff, The Boston Globe, Getting In
D. Investigative Reporting:
First Prize – Linda Mathews, Marisol Bello, Jack Gillum, Greg Toppo, Jodi Upton, Dennis Cauchon, Denise Amos, Chastity Pratt Dawsey, Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki and Kristi Tanner-White, USA Today, Testing the System
Second Prize – Heather Vogell and Alan Judd, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta Public Schools Cheating Scandal
Special Citation – Michael Finnegan and Gale Holland, Los Angeles Times, Billions to Spend
E. Opinion:
First Prize – William McKenzie, The Dallas Morning News, Education Reform
Second Prize – Monica Yant Kinney, Philadelphia Inquirer, Monica Yant Kinney's Opinion
Special Citation – Paul Owens, Orlando Sentinel, Student Debt
And
Sharon Broussard, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland Schools
III. BROADCAST
A. Short-Form Coverage:
First Prize – Jim Bell, Don Nash, Dee Dee Thomas and Antoinette Machiaverna, NBC News/TODAY, Inside the College Admissions Process
Second Prize – Jim Bell, Don Nash, Debbie Kosofsky, Jennifer Long and Amy Robach, NBC News/TODAY, Judge Jimmie Edwards
Special Citation – Dan Carsen, Southern Education Desk at WBHM, Police Pepper-Spraying Students on Campus
B. Beat Reporting:
First Prize – Phyllis Fletcher, Jim Gates and Guy Nelson, KUOW Public Radio, KUOW's Phyllis Fletcher Reports
Second Prize – Maura Walz, Georgia Public Broadcasting, Maura Walz on Georgia schools
Special Citation – John Merrow, John Tulenko, Cat McGrath and David Wald, PBS NewsHour/Learning Matters, 2010-2011 Learning Matters Compilation
C. Feature, News Feature, or Issue Package:
First Prize – Emily Hanford, Catherine Winter and Stephen Smith, American Public Media, Don’t Lecture Me
Second Prize – Dan Carsen, Southern Education Desk at WBHM, Poor Neighborhoods, Polluted Schools
And
Bob Holtzman, Nicole Noren, Tim Hays, Dwayne Bray, Douglas Colby, Marc Lustig and Vince Doria, ESPN, ESPN Outside the Lines, “Burt Grossman”
Special Citation – Ana Tintocalis and Tyche Hendricks, KQED Public Media, How School Budgets Passed From Local to State Control and Untangling the Web of California School Funding
D. Series:
First Prize – Kavitha Cardoza, Ginger Moored and Rebecca Blatt, WAMU Public Radio, The Heavy Burden of Childhood Obesity
Second Prize – Jim Bell, Don Nash, Natalie Morales ,Curtis Vogel, Marc Victor and Audrey Kolina, NBC News/TODAY, Class of 2020
Special Citation – Noreen O'Donnell, Jackson Loo and Devon Puglia, The Daily, New Orleans’ New Start
E. Investigative Reporting:
First Prize – Rob Schmitz and Amy Scott, Marketplace, The Chinese Student Syndrome
Second Prize – Sarah Gonzalez and John O'Connor, StateImpact Florida, No Choice: Florida Charter Schools Failing to Serve Students with Disabilities
IV. BLOGS
A. Journalism blogging:
First Prize – John O’Connor and Sarah Gonzalez, StateImpact Florida, StateImpact Florida Blog Coverage
Second Prize – Elizabeth Green, Philissa Cramer, Geoffrey Decker, Rachel Cromidas, Jessica Campbell, Sarah Darville, Anna Phillips, Maura Walz, Chris Arp, GothamSchools, GothamSchools
Special Citation – Benjamin Herold, Dale Mezzacappa, Paul Socolar and Chris Satullo, Philadelphia Public School Notebook,Cheating coverage
B. Community blogging:
First Prize – Dana Chivvis, Christopher Tine, Soraya Gage and Colleen Nowers, NBC News / Education Nation / NBC Learn, Education Nation's The Learning Curve Blog
Second Prize – Mary Churchill and Meg Palladino, Inside Higher Ed, University of Venus
Special Citation – Jessica Stahl, Voice of America, The Student Union
V. SPECIAL INTEREST, INSTITUTIONAL, and TRADE PUBLICATIONS
First Prize – Sarah Karp, Catalyst Chicago, The Right Move?
Second Prize – Ben Wildavsky, Foreign Policy, Think Again: Education
Special Citation – Jack Stripling, Andrea Fuller and Josh Keller, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Executive Compensation: What Private College Presidents Make