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.

This group of current and former journalists spent long hours carefully evaluating their assigned subsets of the more than 400 entries for the 2019 National Awards for Education Reporting and the Eddie Prize. (EWA judges were recused from entries that posed conflicts of interests.)

Many of our veteran judges told us 2019 was the most competitive year yet. They said they were heartened to see how, despite the challenges facing the journalism industry, journalists are still producing top-notch, impactful pieces that reveal important truths about our nation’s education system.  

Jenny Abamu, former WAMU reporter

Larry Abramson, former NPR correspondent 

Eva-Marie Ayala, Dallas Morning News

Stephanie Banchero, Joyce Foundation 

Bethany Barnes, Tampa Bay Times 

Alex Baumhardt, APM Reports 

Deborah Becker, WBUR 

Dan Berrett, The Chronicle of Higher Education 

Liz Bowie, The Baltimore Sun 

Sarah Butrymowicz, The Hechinger Report 

Lauren Camera, U.S. News & World Report 

Ricardo Cano, CalMatters

Wayne Carter, NBC Owned Television Stations

Alvin Chang, Wall Street Journal 

Timothy Chipp, Abilene Reporter-News

Rose Ciotta, EdSource 

Leah Clapman, PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs

Martha Dalton, WABE 

Julie Deardorff, Northwestern University

Cheryl Devall, Freelance

Nichole Dobo, The Hechinger Report

Kerry Donahue, PRX

Danielle Dreilinger, Independent Journalist

Steve Drummond, NPR

Ron Feemster, Florida SouthWestern State College 

Maritza Felix, Freelance

Emmanuel Felton, BuzzFeed News 

Beth Fertig, WNYC 

Kelly Field, Freelance 

Vince Filak, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Department of Journalism

Phyllis Fletcher, American Public Media 

Nic Garcia, Dallas Morning News

Daniel Golden, ProPublica 

Larry Gordon, EdSource 

Joe Grimm, Michigan State University School of Journalism

Cornelia Grumman, Robert R. McCormick Foundation

Lee Hale, KUER

Reeve Hamilton, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 

LynNell Hancock, Columbia University Journalism School 

Sara Hebel, Open Campus

John Hechinger, Bloomberg News 

Hiram Henriquez, University of Miami School of Communication 

Mark Horvit, University of Missouri School of Journalism

Laura Isensee, Houston Public Media

David Jesse, Detroit Free Press 

Richard G. Jones, University of Notre Dame 

Barbara Kantrowitz, The Hechinger Report & Columbia Journalism School

Rebecca Klein, HuffPost

Nathaniel Lash, The New York Times

Celia Llopis-Jepsen, Kansas News Service 

Linda Lutton, WBEZ 

Rob Manning, Oregon Public Broadcasting 

Kate McGee, WBEZ 

Ted Mellnik, The Washington Post

Dale Mezzacappa, Philadelphia Public School Notebook

Robert Moore, El Paso Matters 

Anita Narayan, U.S. News & World Report

Mary Niederberger, Freelance

Justin Pope, Longwood University 

Teresa Prout, formerly of The News & Record 

Sascha Raiyn, WDET 

Vanessa Rancaño, KQED 

Monica Rhor, Houston Chronicle

Alan Richard, Southern Regional Education Board 

Gail Robinson, Self-Employed 

Brian M. Rosenthal, The New York Times 

Jennifer Ruark, The Chronicle of Higher Education 

Gabrielle Russon, Orlando Sentinel 

Bob Sacha, Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY 

Roxanne Scott, WABE News

Linda Shaw, Solutions Journalism

Scott Smallwood, Open Campus 

Sara Solovitch, Searchlight New Mexico 

Eric Stirgus, Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

Aisha Sultan, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Ki Sung, MindShift

Aliyya Swaby, Texas Tribune 

Jennifer Swindell, Idaho Education News 

Kenneth Terrell, AARP

Jennifer Thomas, Howard University

Tim Tooten, WBAL-TV

Greg Toppo, Author/Journalist

Peg Tyre, Edwin Gould Foundation 

Jackie Valley, The Nevada Independent 

Marlon A. Walker, Atlanta Journal-Constitution 

Denise Zapata, EdSource

Bill Zeeble, KERA