A package of stories about immigrant workers’ fight for rights and an investigative podcast examining homeschooling earned Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY news sites major national awards from the Society for Professional Journalists on Saturday.
Meanwhile, J-School news outlets also took a merit award in the local Society of Silurians competition on Wednesday — and are finalists for nine National Association of Black Journalists Salute to Excellence Awards, to be bestowed in August.
La Lucha en Primera Línea de Trabajadores Latinos en Nueva York por los Derechos Laborales (New York City Latino Workers Fight on the Frontlines of Labor Rights), produced by El Deadline, a news outlet powered by the J-School’s Bilingual Journalism Program, won the Spanish-language Print/Online News Reporting award in SPJ’s Sigma Delta Chi competition.
The stories, by Ariana Perez-Castells, Natalia Sánchez Loayza and Tasha Sandoval (all Class of 2022), reported variously on a Mexican immigrant leading a fight over wage theft; a construction worker from Ecuador battling for fair pay and safer working conditions; and a guide aimed at helping Spanish-speaking workers hurt on the job.
Other Sigma Delta Chi winners included The New York Times, NPR, ProPublica and many more.
Meanwhile, Home Ed, the NYCity News Service podcast from Mary Steffenhagen ‘22 probing the growing homeschooling movement, notched two honors: It won the Podcast (Narrative) category in SPJ’s national Mark of Excellence Awards for student-produced journalism.
HomeEd also garnered the “MOE-y”— the Best of Show honors for the Mark of Excellence Awards, making it SPJ’s choice for the top piece of student journalism in the nation produced in 2022.
The podcast is part of When Home is School, a NYCity News Service investigative report that’s already garnered honors from the Online News Association, Editor and Publisher, the College Media Association and other organizations.
In another awards news, Hard Lessons, a NYCity News Service look at challenges local schools face in rebounding from the pandemic, won a Society of Silurians merit award on Wednesday, coming in second to a Newsday series on police misconduct.
Hard Lessons is also among the J-School’s nine finalists in NABJ’s Salute to Excellence Awards:
- Hard Lessons and The Housing Crunch, both NYCity News Service team efforts, are finalists for Best Use of Multimedia – Special Project.
- Amaya McDonald’s Why Are So Few Black Men Teachers in New York City?, part of the Hard Lessons project, is a finalist in the Online News Reporting category.
- McDonald’s NYCity News Service piece, A Play in the Key of Life, also secured a finalist nod, along with Amanda Braitman’s News Service story, Delivering a Tall Order, both in the Online Feature Reporting category.
- 219West TV News Magazine’s Challenges & Resilience installment is a finalist for Best Newscast.
- Youcef Bounab’s News Service photo essay, Life of a Bronx Mosque, is a finalist for the Photography – Multiple Images category.
- Briana Ellis-Gibbs’ photo of Vice President Kamala Harris and Christian Colón’s image of Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez with a Bronx constituent, both snapped for the News Service, share slots in the Photography – Single Image category.
Winners are slated to be announced Aug. 5, during the 2023 NABJ Convention & Career Fair, in Birmingham, Ala.