Judges for the 2019 National Awards for Education Reporting
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