Alumni Newsletter Summer 2024

  • By Newmark J-School Staff
Photo by Mark Banchereau '23, taken as part of the NYCity News Service's Stranded in Senegal project.

Dear Alumni,

So many of our amazing graduates have won prizes, reached finalist status, or earned award nominations for outstanding journalism over the past few months.

See below for a roll call of the impressive honors and accolades our alumni have achieved recently. And if we’ve missed any, please let us know!

Before we get to the awards, a few updates:

  • The next Alumni Homecoming will be in Spring 2025. Stay tuned for a save-the-date and details!
  • Alumni Affairs is thrilled to have hosted Sarah Kazadi-Ndoye ’12 and Kizzy Cox ’12 for an on-campus screening of their Emmy-nominated CBS Sports documentary CROWN on May 16. Kazadi-Ndoye created, directed and produced the film, and Cox worked on it as a producer. A lively panel discussion with Aziza Shuler, Emmy-winning weekend anchor and reporter for CBS News Philadelphia, followed the screening. We’re grateful to all participants and attendees for making the event a success, and to NYABJ for co-hosting.

Aziza Shuler (right), Emmy-winning weekend anchor and reporter for CBS News Philadelphia, joined the panel discussion of the alumni documentary CROWN (see above) in Room 308 with Kizzy Cox (left) and Sarah Kazadi-Ndoye (center).
  • The J-School announced the launch of an AI Advisory Board to help guide curriculum development. Board members include Newmark’s Sandeep Junnarkar, Lam Thuy Vo, Barbara Gray, Jeremy Caplan and Nikita Roy, as well as Justin Hendrix, editor of Tech Policy Press; Gideon Lichfield, former editor-in-chief of Wired; Aimeee Rinehart, senior product manager AI strategy, The Associated Press; Kevin Delaney, co-founder of Charter; Karen Hao, contributing writer at The Atlantic; Dorrine Mendoza, product and partnerships lead, The American Journalism Project; and Andrew Rodriguez Calderon, computational journalist at The Marshall Project.
  • The Center for Community Media’s Asian Media Initiative published a sweeping report spanning the journalistic contributions and narratives of the many communities that make up the AAPI media ecosystem. Congratulations to Kavitha Rajagopalan for writing the report, and to Jennifer Cheng for designing it. You can find the report here.
  • Last month, after Newmark J-School adjunct instructor Marshall Allen passed away unexpectedly at age 52, we heard from many of his former students who wrote in to let our school know what a huge impact he had on their journalism training and careers. Allen was a highly accomplished journalist and non-fiction author, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his reporting for ProPublica. He was profoundly dedicated to his students and colleagues at Newmark J-School. Our deepest condolences go out to all alumni, faculty, staff and community members who had the good fortune to learn from or work with him here at Newmark or elsewhere.

Please read on for alumni news and updates, details on upcoming events and opportunities, and a few words from the five graduates who won Newmark J-School’s 2024 Alumni Awards this spring.

Have a wonderful summer!

Cheers,
Salma

Salma Abdelnour Gilman
Head of Alumni Affairs

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Faculty and Staff News

This spring, we extended a warm welcome to John Thornton, co-founder of the Texas Tribune and the American Journalism Project, who joins the J-School as the inaugural Senior Fellow; to Darryl Holliday, founder of the Pulitzer Prize-winning City Bureau, who will become Newmark J-School’s ​​​​​​Entrepreneur-in-Residence this fall; and to Steven Weiss, the newest member of our AV team.

We also bid a fond goodbye to Carrie Brown, who after 10 years teaching at Newmark J-School—a decade that include co-founding the J-School’s cutting-edge Engagement M.A. Program with Jeff Jarvis in 2015—is moving on to an Associate Professor position in the School of Communications and Media at Montclair State University.

EVENTS

CUNY Multi-Campus Alumni Career Event

The 7th Annual CUNY Multi-Campus Alumni Career Event will feature Jeremy Schifeling, a career development speaker and author, who will present a workshop on the tremendous benefits of leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to support and enhance professional growth. This event also offers an excellent chance to connect and network with fellow CUNY alumni from various campuses.

When: June 13 at 6 p.m. ET
Where: Remote (Zoom)
Register here.

Filling the Gaps: Independent, Investigative Statewide News

In today’s tumultuous and shrinking news landscape, one of the bright spots is the emergence of new statewide news nonprofits that hold leaders accountable, explore solutions, and determine how the decisions made in state capitals affect communities around the state. Matt Wynn, the Executive Director of the Nebraska Journalism Trust, Rebecca Klein, the publisher of NY Focus, and Chris Baxter, the CEO/president and founding editor of Spotlight PA will offer lessons for their experience launching these organizations and key factors around their sustainability, operations, and more. Join us for a panel discussion.

When: June 21 at 1 p.m.
Where:  Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, 219 W. 40th St., New York, NY, Room 308
Register here.

OPPORTUNITIES

CUNY-TV Presents: Newmark J-School Films

The new CUNY TV Presents: Newmark J-School Films is an exclusive platform for showcasing documentaries created by J-School journalists. Selected films will be featured on CUNY TV, reaching 7.3 million households across the New York metro area via broadcast channels and streaming on the CUNY TV app: Android /Apple.

CUNY TV Interim Executive Director Chiqui Cartagena and Yoruba Richen, Director of the Newmark J-School Documentary Program, are offering this incredible opportunity to showcase alumni and student work on The City University of New York’s official television channel. Check out this promo of the CUNY Film Festival, and a reel featuring Newmark J-School graduate Alexandra Booth ’17.

Current students and alumni are invited to submit doc style short pieces. Submit your films for consideration here. While there’s no compensation for televised work, the exposure gained through CUNY TV’s extensive reach is invaluable.

Please ensure you have the legal rights to all film material and comply with FCC regulations. For more information, reach out to .

Submission deadline: June 21.

Training: Restorative v. Punishment: Reporting on Juvenile Justice at a Crossroads

Newmark J-School is accepting applications for “Restorative v. Punitive: Reporting on Juvenile Justice at a Crossroads”—a free two-day, online workshop funded by The Tow Foundation and aimed at journalists covering juvenile justice, criminal justice and related beats.

Space is limited for the training sessions, to be run June 24-25. Fill out this short form, and include a proposal for a juvenile justice story you’d like to work on. Qualified journalists will be accepted as they apply.

If you’re accepted, you’ll work with juvenile justice experts, lawmakers, formerly justice-involved youth and top-notch journalists at a time when the movement to emphasize rehabilitation over punishment is playing out unevenly amid battles over reform efforts. You’ll also get feedback on your pitches from veteran editors.

The goal: to help prepare you to tackle a national juvenile justice landscape where uncertainty, political divisions and high stakes demand strong reporting that helps deliver insight and action.

Application form here.

​​​​​​Application deadline: Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until spots are filled.

The New York Times Local Investigations Fellowship

This one-year investigative reporting fellowship is aimed at developing the next generation of great reporters who will do accountability journalism at the local level. The NYT is looking for fellows who have a few years of professional experience covering a local beat and who are ready to tackle an ambitious investigative project, but lack the resources and guidance to produce it.

Under the guidance of Executive Editor Dean Baquet and his handpicked group of veteran editors, these fellows will receive the rare opportunity to learn the judgment, skills and techniques needed to excel at investigative journalism from the best in the business. The fellows will spend a year, funded by The New York Times, producing signature investigative work focused on their state or region and publishing it in The Times.

More information here.

Application form here.

Application deadline: September 3

ALUMNI UPDATES

Win-Win

Angela Hill ‘07 (pictured below) won a Pulitzer Prize in the National Reporting category, as part of a Washington Post team covering how AR-15s have impacted American culture.

Katie Honan ‘10, Lauren Friedman ‘11, Kizzy Cox ‘12, Sarah Kazadi-Ndoye ‘12 and Joshua Christensen ‘18 earned finalist nods in the Deadline Club Awards this year, along with faculty members Tom Robbins and Errol Louis.

Sarah Kazadi-Ndoye ‘12 ​​​​’s documentary “CROWN“, which she created, directed and produced for CBS Sports, was nominated for a Sports Emmy. Kizzy Cox ’12 worked on the film as a producer.
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Rachael Levy ‘14 (pictured below) won a Pulitzer Prize in the National Reporting category, as part of the Reuters Team that reported on Elon Musk’s businesses.


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Levy was also part of the Reuters team that won a Polk Award for its reporting on the “Musk Industrial Complex.” 

The SABEW (Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing) gave out Best in Business Awards to several alumni from Newmark J-School: Rachael Levy ‘14 won for Investigative – Large Division, along with the Reuters team, for “The Musk Industrial Complex.” Gabriel Sandoval ‘19 received an honorary mention for his reporting in the Capital & Main and ProPublica collaboration, “Checked Out: How L.A. Failed to Stop Landlords from Turning Low-Cost Housing into Tourist Hotels.” Karishma Vanjani ‘19 and Angela Palumbo ‘21 are part of the team at Barron’s that won the General Excellence award for their story about the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. Gina Heeb ‘22 was part of the team from The Wall Street Journal that won the award for Breaking News: Large Division, for “The Failure of First Republic.” And faculty member Greg David won the Economy Coverage – Small Division award for his coverage of the NYC Economy with THE CITY.

Annie Massa ‘14 and Hannah Miller ‘19 won an Ambie from The Podcast Academy for Best Business Podcast for their work with Bloomberg and Wondery on “Spellcaster: The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried.”

Jessica Bal ’15 has been awarded a 2024-2025 Social Practice CUNY Actionist Fellowship to support the creation of a digital archive documenting news media unionization and labor organizing.

Cole Rosengren ‘15 won awards for two teams he manages as lead editor at Industry Dive: Packaging Dive won a Neal Award in the Best Technical/Scientific Content category for a feature on digital inkjet printing, and a National Gold Azbee Award for Technical Article. The team also won a National Gold Azbee for Overall Headline Writing. Waste Dive won a Regional Silver Azbee in the Sustainability Reporting category for a group of stories, including one that Rosengren wrote.​​​

Helina Selemon ’15 won an award in the Words (Micro) category from the Solutions Journalism Network for a story she reported for New York Amsterdam News about the link between heat and gun violence, and the green solutions being used to combat them.

Karen Shakerdge ‘15 won the S​​​​tephen B. Shepard Prize for Investigative Reporting from Newmark J-School for her story “Imminent Danger: One Doctor and a Trail of Injured Women” on WNYC/Gothamist. Shakerdge’s story also won a NY Press Club award in the Podcast-NYC Metro-Scripted category, and earned second place for Audio Reporting-Large in the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) 2023 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism.​​​​​​

Ariama C. Long ‘18 won a second place New York Press Association award for Division 2, Coverage of Local Government.

Netsanet Negussie ‘19 has been awarded a Rockwood Documentary Leaders Fellowship.

Audrey Carleton ’21 earned Honorable Mention in the Words (Micro) category from the Solutions Journalism Network for a story for the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.

Cynthia DuBose, Exec Program ‘21, is the inaugural recipient of Newmark J-School’s Executive Leadership Alumni Award.

Natalie Peart ‘21 won the Best Documentary Podcast Ambie for her work on “Ghost Story.”

ET Rodriguez ’22 won first prize for “Best Column” in her division at this year’s New York Press Association awards. The prize recognizes her work at the Bronx Times.

Anacaona Rodriguez Martinez ’22 and Safiyah Riddle ’23 accepted the Shaufler Prize in Journalism in the student category from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, an award earned by the team of Newmark alumni and students who reported the “Hard Lessons” series for the New York City News Service.

Dashiell Allen ‘23 won Newmark J-School’s Sidney Hillman Award for Social Justice Reporting.

Naoufal Enhari ‘23 is this year’s winner of Newmark J-School’s Newsweek Alumni Prize.​​​​​

Safiyah Riddle ‘23 is the winner of Newmark J-School’s Frederic Wiegold Prize for Business Journalism.

The Newest New Yorkers, a cross-class special report examining the challenges facing migrants, has won the New York Press Club’s award for Excellence in Student Journalism. Contributing to the report are alumni including Naoufal Enhari ’23, Divya Murthy ’23, Amanda Salazar ’23, Christian Nazario ’23, John J. Schilling ’23, Saugat Bolakhe ’23 and Daniel Katzive ’23.

The NYCity News Service has won four national Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence awards:

  • Dead Wrong, a NYCity News Service investigation detailing shady funeral industry practices, won Investigative Reporting honors. Alumni who contributed to the project are Ariana Perez-Castells ’22, Zoltan Lucas ’23 and Jesús Chapa Malacara ’23.

In addition to the national winners above, a number of alumni won regional awards in SPJ’s Region 1 Mark of Excellence competition, which covers most of the Northeast:

  • Queens Street Name Stories, a NYCity News Service special report on the stories behind the city streets renamed for local heroes, won first place for Best Use of Multimedia. Alumni contributors are: Hari Adivarekar ’23, Sonja Anderson ’23, Kimberly Izar ’23, Asar John ’23, Mariam Kiparoidze ’23, Divya Murthy ’23, Aine Pennllo ’13, Maria Dolores Martinez Perez ’23, Zakiyyah Woods ’23 and Meral Agish ’14.

  • Mark Banchereau ’23‘s lead photo for the Stranded in Senegal project (see photo above) won for Breaking News Photography.

The J-School’s NYCity News Service has earned five finalist slots in the National Association of Black Journalists’ Salute to Excellence awards. Honors go to the following pieces:​​​​​​

  • The Newest New Yorkers is a finalist for Best Use of Multimedia — Special Project.

  • Zakiyyah Woods ’23’s Community of Dance photo essay—part of Newmark J-School’s Photobridge international collaborative photo project—is a finalist in the Photography-Multiple Images category.

  • The lead image from Mark Banchereau ’23‘s ​​​​Stranded in Senegal earned a finalist slot in the Photography-Single Image category.

  • The New York Stories edition of 219West TV News Magazine is a finalist for Best Newscast.

  • Sunny Nagpaul ’23 and Yasmine Daas’ 219West segment Fashionable Bronx is a finalist for Television Feature — Short Form.

Newmark J-School’s Bilingual Program conquered NAHJ’s Ñ nominations. Among the finalists are alumni Génesis Dávila ’23, Dashiell Allen ’23 and Nicole Acevedo ’17 for stories published in the Bilingual Program’s newsroom El Deadline and in the NYCity News Service/219West.

Featured News

Linnea Covington ‘08 is the new Managing Editor of DiningOut Magazine in Denver, CO. She’s revamping the site, which covers restaurants, chefs, bars, news and events.

Erin Horan ‘12 produced and directed “One Shot Away” for CBS. The 30-minute show also aired on Gold Channel.

Roxanne Scott ‘14 appeared on The Brian Lehrer Show to talk about how the St. Albans neighborhood in Queens is dealing with a mosquito issue exacerbated by climate change.
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​​​Kathryn Casteel ‘16 started a new job as a Metro Editor at The Post and Courier in Charleston, SC.

Josh Keefe ‘16 joined the Maine Monitor as Government Accountability Reporter.

Laura Duclos ‘18 started a role as an Audience Producer at the Texas Tribune.

A new Frontline film debuting on May 14 was produced by Jeff Arak ‘19 and reported by Roberto Deniz, EJCP ‘22. Max Maldonado ‘22 also collaborated on the project.
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Fruhlein Econar ‘19 co-produced Guardians of Thitu, a project featured at this year’s Photoville. The story was originally published in the Wall Street Journal.

Karina Meier ‘19 was Associate Producer on the documentary “Quiet on Set,” and she’s now working on an episode for Frontline.

Liam Quigley ‘19 joined the NYC Accountability team at WNYC/Gothamist as the Parks and Sanitation Reporter.

Gabriel Sandoval ‘19 has started a new role as State Government Reporter with the Associated Press.

Suzannah Cavanaugh ‘20 and Ariana Perez-Castells ‘22 are among the Xana Fellows selected as part of the fourth class of this three-day conference.

Alissa McPherson ‘20 recently interviewed Winston Duke for BET. She’s currently training with Symbiosis Coaching, and is in the process of building her own food and beverage brand.

Sara Herschander ‘21 is a 2024 Journalism Fellow with FASPE (Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics).

Santiago Flórez ‘22 is working at Science Friday as Reporter and Community Manager, and recently partnered with El País to co-produce a limited newsletter about astronomy in Latin America. Six journalists from five different nationalities reported in six countries for this series, which was reported in Spanish and published in English and Spanish.

Cailley LaPara ‘22 will start a new position at Bloomberg as the UPS and FedEx Reporter.

Max Maldonado ‘22 (pictured below) has earned grants from several funds, including the Southern Documentary Fund, Redford Center and Working Films Fund, to support two of his upcoming audiovisual projects.

Peter Tomao ‘22 recently wrote the piece “Landlord Legislators Carved Themselves Out of Good Cause Eviction” for New York Focus.

Shanae Harte ‘23 (pictured below) published her story, “Racism Through Different Lenses,” as part of the book “Perspectives on Race and Community in the Lehigh Valley.”

Eduardo Salazar Uribe ‘23 participated as one of the speakers at TEDxCUNY in April 2024.

Eduardo Salazar Uribe (center) with Colleen Leigh, Assistant Dean of Enrollment Management and Student Success (left) and Matt Brown, Associate Director of Student Engagement and Programs (right).

 

Alumni AWards

Newmark J-School’s Alumni Award Winners 2024

We’re so proud of all five winners of this year’s Newmark J-School Alumni Awards.

From left to right in the above photo, this year’s winners are:

Dashiell Allen ‘23, Safiyah Riddle ‘23, Naoufal Enhari ‘23, Karen Shakerdge ‘15 and Cynthia DuBose, Executive Program ‘21. 

Below are brief bios about each of the Alumni Award recipients (from the news announcement on our site), followed by excerpts from the inspiring acceptance speeches the winners gave during the awards presentation at the Ford Foundation for Social Justice on May 23.

Dashiell Allen ’23—Sidney Hillman Award for Social Justice Reporting

Allen is a journalist and photographer based in New York City, with experience reporting on immigration, local news and the LGBTQ community. He holds a Master’s in Bilingual Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY and a Bachelor’s in Spanish-language literature from Reed College. His work has been published in both English and Spanish by Univision, City Limits, Gay City News and more. Allen is currently a reporter for the local news site W42ST and an engagement journalism intern at Resolve Philly.

“I know that when we think about impact in journalism, we typically think about justice being served, whether that means a law being passed or repealed, or an injured party receiving restitution. But what the Newmark J-School has taught me is that everyday shoe leather reporting—whether that be showing up to a community board meeting or an art festival or meeting small business owners—is really just as important, if not more,” said Allen as he accepted his award.
Safiyah Riddle ’23—Frederic Wiegold Prize for Business Journalism

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Riddle specializes in economic and business reporting on both the local and national scale. In her first year at Newmark J-School, Riddle earned the Dennis Dugan Award from the Silurians Press Club. Her work has appeared in Reuters, THE CITY, WNYC, Chicago Crain’s Business and Chalkbeat. Riddle is currently a fellow for This American Life, producing stories on congressional elections and school gun violence. She is currently based in Brooklyn, New York.

“It’s no exaggeration to say that this school is one of the best things that happened to me, professionally or personally or otherwise,” said Riddle at the awards ceremony.

She went on to describe her experience of reporting on the recent campus protests:
“Student journalists competed with and sometimes lapped professionals with the coverage of these protests. I don’t think it was just because they were reporting from outside their dorm rooms. I believe that it is precisely because they don’t have the guaranteed platforms or institutional connections that student reporters are forced to focus on the bare-bones, most important aspects of reporting. Forced to run up and down the ramparts, forced to talk to every single person involved face to face regardless of what they believe. They’re compelled by the commitment to not look away, and that’s what makes impactful reporting,” added Riddle.

Naoufal Enhari ’23—Newsweek Alumni Prize

Enhari is a versatile reporter fluent in English, French and Arabic, with a passion for visual and broadcast journalism. Before joining the Newmark J-School, he worked as a foreign correspondent in Washington D.C. and at the United Nations in New York. In June of this year, Enhari will join the Moroccan News Agency as a Senior Reporter and Editor in Rabat, Morocco. He holds a Bachelor’s in Political Science and a Master’s in International Relations from the University of Rabat.

“My background and upbringing in Morocco had a lot to do with the topics and stories I chose to write about, for example: covering Middle Eastern communities in Astoria, West African refugees in Harlem or the surfers community in the Rockaway. Almost every story that I worked on at the J-School had a connection to my background and upbringing and my immediate interests,” said Enhari at the awards ceremony.

“All in all, the skills, experiences and connections that I made while reporting here in New York will impact the rest of my career and inspire me to share what I learned here, and to apply it on the other side of the Atlantic for more meaningful and impactful journalism. I am grateful for this opportunity and I can’t wait to go back to New York for more reporting and storytelling,” he added.

Karen Shakerdge ’15— Stephen B. Shepard Prize for Investigative Reporting

Shakerdge is an audio journalist focused on editing and reporting investigative podcasts. Her award-winning WNYC series “Imminent Danger: One Doctor and a Trail of Injured Women” delves into the track record of one OB-GYN and information Shakerdge discovered in over 4,000 pages of records. Told in five episodes, “Imminent Danger” includes detailed interviews with former patients and ultimately exposes the shortcomings of systems used to vet doctors and protect patients. Shakerdge’s stories have aired on public radio stations nationwide and earned recognition from the Associated Press Association, the Public Media Journalists Association and others. She is currently a Senior Editor at Pushkin Industries, where she has edited podcasts such as “Deep Cover,” “Hot Money” and “Playing God.”

At the awards event, Shakerdge said, “I would not be standing here today if it were not for Marshall Allen. As many of you know, Marshall died unexpectedly on Sunday. His passion for investigative journalism was highly contagious. In the syllabus for his course, he wrote, ‘Great investigative journalism is not magic. It comes from a certain mindset and method. It happens on purpose.’ I know that the skills he taught us, the mindset he showed us and the fire he lit for so many of us will continue on.”

She added: “For me, finally finishing the series was a reminder of many of the things I learned at this school. Doing journalism takes time and it can be grueling. There is nothing especially glamorous or easy about it. It’s reading records over and over until your eyes strain. It’s calling people who don’t want to talk to you. It’s constantly gaming out next steps and trying to figure out how to do justice to the information you’ve found and to the stories that people have decided to trust you with. But  in large part thanks to my time at CUNY, I truly know that I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Cynthia DuBose, Executive Program ’21, Executive Leadership Alumni Award

DuBose is McClatchy’s Senior Vice President for Products and Experience, leading cross-departmental collaboration to develop new media platforms, products and experiences. She champions product innovation, novel user experiences, analytics, project management, SEO capabilities and more. Recently, she spearheaded McClatchy’s artificial intelligence strategy, leading the charge to improve the company’s information gathering techniques. DuBose started her career as a reporter and has held roles at Newsday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fans1st Media. An active member of the J+ alumni network, she coaches and teaches within programs designed for executive and emerging news professionals.

“When you work in this industry, you grow accustomed to leaps. They become just another part of the job. And so I like to believe that I’ve become a pro at leaping. There’s been video, newsletters, premium content, dual website strategy. So many leaps. And now here we are again, and you all can guess, right? We’re leaping. This leap feels different. This leap, to AI, will not only change our industry, it will change our habits and our interactions and our lives. And it’s already showing us the power. And I very much consider it my job to harness that power and move our industry forward,” said DuBose before accepting her award.

​​​​​​”​I feel it’s a challenge that’s been 20 years in the making for me, but it’s also one I’m ready for thanks to CUNY’s Executive Program,” she added. “That program provided a very special place, a place that understood, respected and encouraged its students no matter how old, no matter where they were in their careers, to leap forward, not only in this industry but also in our lives. And so I’ll forever be grateful to that program because I feel that it has given me what I need to move forward and to continue to always leap.”

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