2009 Grand Prize Winner Bob Hohler Shares "How He Did the Story"

Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe won first prize in the large-media category for "Failing Our Athletes: The Sad State of Sports in Boston Public Schools" in EWA's annual contest. His series also won EWA's top prize the Fred M. Hechinger Award for education journalism. See how the veteran journalist reported his award winning series.

As an investigative sportswriter for the Boston Globe, I have been interested in examining the role of sports in society, in this case public school education.

The idea for this series sprang up in part from my own experience in the Boston Public Schools many years earlier. At that time, the system was plagued by gross inequities and deficiencies, which were brilliantly chronicled by Jonathan Kozol in his book, Death at an Early Age.

I knew city leaders had improved the schools in many ways since then, but I also suspected that there were lingering problems. When I learned the city employed only one athletic director for 18 public high schools that field interscholastic sports teams, I suggested to Globe editor Marty Baron and Globe sports editor Joe Sullivan that the issue might be worth exploring in depth.  All I needed then was one meeting with the city's overwhelmed athletic director, Ken Still, to convince me to pursue the series. Still's office was so understaffed that he was unable to keep pace with essential duties such as checking academic eligibility, medical reports, transportation records, equipment and facility needs, and the performance of coaches.

I spent nearly the entire 2008-09 academic year deeply examining the system. In addition to visiting every school's facilities, I interviewed dozens of sources, including coaches, administrators, students, parents, alumni, referees, police officers, custodians, and other city and state officials. I also spent many hours in courthouses checking records concerning student athletes who were victims or perpretrators of crimes.

During the months I worked on the project, a number of major themes emerged, and my editors agreed to publish the series in seven parts, beginning with a sweeping overview. The rest of the series focused on public safety, including student athletes who were killed or wounded during the school year; the high rate of academic ineligibility that cost many students their shots at college atheltic scholarships; deficiencies in equipment, facility, and support staff; substandard coaches; the stunning lack of interest in school sports; and ways that other cities tired to address similar problems.

I was helped by many top-rate editors, photographers, and designers. The series had an immediate impact, as Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino enlisted a non-profit foundation that committed to investing millions of dollars annually to upgrade the athletic and academic experiences of the city's students.