Awards
EWA National Awards for Education Reporting
The Education Writers Association’s National Awards for Education Reporting advance education journalism by recognizing the field’s very best efforts. The awards’ goals are to:
- Encourage and inspire more and better education journalism;
- Underscore the importance of excellent coverage and storytelling as a cornerstone of democracy and education.
All media may participate in the awards. So whether your work appeared in print or online, on TV or the radio, or all of the above, we’re eager to recognize excellence on the education beat.
2020 EWA National Awards for Education Reporting
The Education Writers Association’s National Awards for Education Reporting advance education journalism by recognizing the field’s very best efforts. The awards’ goals are to:
- Encourage and inspire more and better education journalism.
- Underscore the importance of excellent reporting and storytelling as a cornerstone of democracy and education.
- Highlight and celebrate the work journalists do to make a positive difference in their communities.
All independent news media may participate in the awards. So whether your work appeared in print or online, on TV or the radio, or all of the above, we’re eager to recognize meritorious coverage of any aspect of education.
The deadline to enter the EWA Awards was 11:59 p.m. Pacific time Dec. 15, 2020. Finalists were announced in the spring of 2021.
Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Education Reporting
Each year, contest judges select one piece of coverage from among the first prize winners as the recipient of EWA’s top prize, the Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Education Reporting. Named for the late New York Times education editor Fred M. Hechinger, the award includes a cash prize of $10,000.
View the list of previous Hechinger Grand Prize winners.
Ronald Moskowitz Prize for Outstanding Beat Reporting
EWA’s annual Ronald D. Moskowitz Prize for Outstanding Beat Reporting celebrates the best education beat reporter in the country.
Each year, EWA judges designate one prize recipient from the winners of EWA’s three beat-reporting competitions: for small, medium-sized and large newsrooms. The honor comes with a $2,500 cash award.
The Moskowitz prize, which was first presented in 2015, was created by a bequest from the late California education journalist and EWA board member.
Moskowitz covered education for the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner during his career. He also served as an education specialist in the administration of California governor Edmund G. “Pat” Brown and staffed the formation of the Education Commission of the States.
View the list of previous Moskowitz Prize winners.
EWA Lifetime Achievement Prize
The Education Writers Association’s Lifetime Achievement Prize recognizes members who have devoted much of their careers to the craft and community of education journalism.
The prize was proposed, created and funded by EWA members who wanted to honor the life and work of Michael Bowler, a longtime education reporter for the Baltimore Sun and former president of the Education Writers Association who passed away in 2018. Bowler was an EWA member for more than five decades.
The goal, according to EWA board member Erica Green, who helped initiate the prize, was to honor “a veteran journalist who embodies Bowler’s commitment to education reporting, both as a career and a public service.”
The award will be given on an occasional basis.
The first Lifetime Achievement Prize was awarded on May 8, 2019 at EWA’s 72nd National Seminar in Baltimore. The prize came with a $5,000 honorarium.