Awards

Explore the impact of our journalism.

2026

• Feature Independent Newsroom, Sarah Carr, Supporting premature babies: “Parents of premature babies struggle to get help their children are entitled to” and “After Hechinger story, Illinois passes law requiring hospitals to connect parents of premature babies with life-changing therapies” — Front Page Awards

• Specialized Reporting: Education, Jill Barshay, How the Trump administration gutted education research: “NAEP, the Nation’s Report Card, was supposed to be safe. It’s not,” “Suddenly sacked” and “Chaos and confusion as the statistics arm of the Education Department is reduced to a skeletal staff of 3” — Front Page Awards

• Investigative Reporting, Meredith Kolodner, Left Out: “Young kids with and without disabilities can learn side by side. One state has instead kept them apart for years” and “New Jersey sends kids with disabilities to separate schools more than any other state”— Front Page Awards

2025

• Third Place, Online Beat Reporting, Jon Marcus, “Beat Reporting by Jon Marcus” — National Headliner Awards

• Winner, Beat Reporting (Education-Only Outlets), Jackie Mader, “Covering Early Education“— EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Winner, Features (Education-Only Outlets), Kavitha Cardoza, Caroline Preston and Valeria Fernandez, “A superintendent made big gains with English learns. His success may have been his downfall” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Winner, Investigative & Public Service Reporting (Education-Only Outlets), Sarah Butrymowicz, Fazil Khan, Meredith Kolodner, Gail Cornwall, Sara Hutchinson, Hadley Hitson, Madeline Mitchell, Amanda Chen, Tazbia Fatima, Tara García Mathewson and Nirvi Shah, “Suspended for…What?” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting 

• Winner, News (Education-Only Outlets), Olivia Sanchez, Nirvi Shah, Meredith Kolodner, Joanna Hou and Laura Pappano, “Affirmative Action Backlash” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting 

• Winner, News (Broadcast), Liz Willen, Meredith Kolodner, Marina Villeneuve, Nick Perez, Soledad O’Brien, Tristan Nash, Rose Arce, Bonnie Bertram, Sandra McDaniel and Amari Leigh, “Affirmative Action Backlash” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting 

• Finalist, News (Education-Only Outlet), Jackie Mader, “The dark future of American child care” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting 

• Winner, Podcast, Jon Marcus and Kirk Carapezza, “College Uncovered” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Second Place, Education Journalism, Kavitha Cardoza, “A superintendent made big gains with English learns. His success may have been his downfall” — National Association for Hispanic Journalists awards

• Honorable Mention, Excellence in Reporting, Steven Yoder, “Math ends the education careers of thousands of community college students. A few schools are trying something new” — American Society of Journalists and Authors

2024

• Second Place, Feature Story, Serious Subject, Gail Cornwall, “‘Revolutionary’ Housing: How Colleges Aim to Support Formerly Incarcerated Students” — The San Francisco Press Club Journalism Award

• Winner, Excellence in Reporting Award, Steven Yoder, “One of the Poorest Cities in America Was Succeeding in an Education Turnaround. Is That Now in Peril?” — American Society of Journalists and Authors Annual Writing Award

• Second Place, Inclusion and Representation In Features, Gail Cornwall,  ‘Revolutionary’ housing: How colleges aim to support formerly incarcerated students” — Society for Features Journalism

• Winner, Online Features, Nirvi Shah, “These would-be teachers graduated into the pandemic. Will they stick with teaching?” — SPJ DC Dateline Awards

• First Place, Writing – Medium: Education Reporting, Laura Pappano, “The (mostly) Republican moms fighting to reclaim their Idaho school district from conservatives” — SPJ Region 10 2023 Excellence In Journalism Awards

• Third Place, Feature Writing, Long Form, Laura Pappano, “The (mostly) Republican moms fighting to reclaim their Idaho school district from conservatives” — The Best of the West contest

• Third Place, Magazines Speciality News Coverage, Sarah Carr, “How a disgraced method of diagnosing learning disabilities persists in our nation’s school”  — National Headliner Awards

• Winner, Excellence in Magazine Non-daily Newspaper category,  Linda Wertheimer, “Inside the Christian legal campaign to return prayer to public schools” — RNA Excellence in Religion Reporting Contest

• Award of Excellence,  Magazine Articles (Human Interest), Linda K. Wertheimer, “Inside the Christian legal campaign to return prayer to public schools” — Religion Communicators Council Wilbur Awards 

• Finalist, Features (Small Newsroom), Nirvi Shah, “These would-be teachers graduated into the pandemic. Will they stick with teaching?”  — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Winner, News (Small Newsroom), Laura Pappano, “The (Mostly) Republican Moms Fighting to Reclaim Their Idaho School District From Conservatives”  — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Winner, Visual Storytelling, Liz Willen, Soledad O’Brien, Rose Arce, Naimah Jabali-Nash, Amari Leigh and Tristan Nash, “The End of Affirmative Action”  — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Finalist, Gail Cornwall, “All You Need Is One Community to Help Pick You Up: Solutions for Restoring College Dreams”  — Edwin Gould Foundation Eddie Award

2023

• Award of Merit, Newspaper Articles (Human Interest), Olivia Sanchez, “Campus religious groups step into a new realm: mental health counseling” — Religion Communicators Council Wilbur Awards 

• Finalist, Insight Award for Explanatory Journalism (Large Division), Meredith Kolodner, Jon Marcus and Fazil Khan, “College degree gaps: Getting worse” — Nonprofit News Awards

• Finalist, Beat Reporting in a Small Newsroom, Jon Marcus, Higher Education — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Finalist, Investigative & Public Service Reporting in a Small Newsroom, Tara García Mathewson and Fazil Khan, “Education Suspended” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Winner, Features in a Small Newsroom, Gail Cornwall, “A school created a homeless shelter in the gym and it paid off in the classroom”  — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Winner, News in a Small Newsroom, Tara García-Mathewson, “‘State-sanctioned violence:’ Inside one of the thousands of schools that still paddle students” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting  

• Finalist, News in a Small Newsroom, Jackie Mader, Olivia Sanchez, Sara Hutchinson and Kavitha Cardoza, “Education in a Post-Roe World” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting 

• Finalist, Collaborations, Neal Morton, “Tackling Teacher Shortages” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting  

• Winner, Journals, Magazines, Special Publications and Website, Gail Cornwall, “A school created a homeless shelter in the gym and it paid off in the classroom”  — John Swett Award for Media Excellence

• Winner, Newspaper or Digital Beat Reporting, Jon Marcus, “How Higher Education Lost its Shine”  — The Deadline Club

2022

• Winner, Features in a Small Newsroom, Caroline Preston, “The jobs where sexual harassment and discrimination never stopped” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting 

• Winner, Features in a Medium Newsroom, Rita Omokha, “In the shadows: The orphans Covid left behind” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting  

• Winner, News in a Small Newsroom, Jackie Mader, Kavitha Cardoza and Kate Rix, “The Trauma Epidemic” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting  

• Honorable Mention, Print/Online Best Feature Story, Charlotte West and Monica Braine, “3 Native American women head to college in the pandemic. Will they get a sophomore year?” — National Native Media Awards 

• Second Place, Education Writing, Staff, “Reading Remedies” — National Headliner Awards 

• Finalist, Beat Reporting in a Small Newsroom, Jon Marcus, Higher Education — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting 

• Finalist, Features in a Small Newsroom, Charlotte West and Monica Braine, “How Native Students Navigated the Pandemic” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting  

• Finalist, News in a Small Newsroom, Neal Morton, “A year in the life of a small-town superintendent shows the federal bailout won’t be enough” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting  

• Finalist, Public Service in a Larger Newsroom, Sarah Butrymowicz, Meredith Kolodner and Jon Marcus, “Hidden Debt Trap” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting  

• Winner, Writing: Education Reporting in a Medium Newsroom, Neal Morton, “A year in the life of a small-town superintendent shows the federal bailout won’t be enough” — Northwest Excellence in Journalism 2021 Awards

2021

• Fellow, Knight-Wallace Reporting Fellowship, Nichole Dobo — Wallace House, University of Michigan

• First Place, Feature Writing in Magazines, Casey Parks, “Traveling to the African Diaspora to prepare Black students for college” — Green Eyeshade Awards

• Finalist, Feature Writing in a Midsize Newsroom, Casey Parks, “Traveling to the African Diaspora to prepare Black students for college” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Finalist, Feature Writing in a Midsize Newsroom, Bracey Harris, “The Broken Promise of Alexander v. Holmes” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Finalist, Feature Writing in a Large Newsroom, Caroline Preston, Pete D’Amato and Rebecca Klein,  “Climate change: Are we ready?” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Winner, Beat Reporting in a Small Newsroom, Jon Marcus, Higher Education — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting 

• Finalist, News Reporting in a Small Newsroom, Sarah Butrymowicz and Tara García Mathewson, “Ed-Tech Companies Promise Results, But Their Claims Are Often Based on Shoddy Research” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting  

• Finalist, News Reporting in a Small Newsroom, Jon Marcus, Meredith Kolodner and Sarah Butrymowicz, “Higher Ed’s Coronavirus Woes: A Deeper Dive” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting 

• Winner, News Reporting in a Small Newsroom, Barbara Kantrowitz, Jackie Mader, Lillian Mongeau and Caroline Preston, “A ‘Drastic Experiment’: Coronavirus and the Future of American Schooling” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

2020

• Winner, Feature Writing in a Small Newsroom, Casey Parks, “Nearly All the Seniors at This Charter School Went to College. Only 6 Out of 52 Finished on Time” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Winner, Beat Reporting in a Small Newsroom, Matt Krupnick, Higher Education — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting 

• Finalist, Single-Topic News in a Small Newsroom, Meredith Kolodner, “First Step to the Middle Class” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting  

• Finalist, Single-Topic News in a Midsize Newsroom, Jon Marcus and Felicia Mello, “Is California Saving Higher Education?” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting  

• Finalist, Feature Stories in a Large Newsroom, Casey Parks, “From prison to dean’s list: How Danielle Metz got an education after incarceration” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Finalist, Beat Reporting in a Small Newsroom, Jon Marcus, Higher Education — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting 

• Finalist, Best Audio Storytelling in a Small Newsroom, Jill Barshay and APM Staff, “Under a Watchful Eye: How Colleges Are Tracking Students to Boost Graduation” — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting 

• Finalist, Casey Parks, “Nearly All the Seniors at This Charter School Went to College. Only 6 Out of 52 Finished on Time” — The Edwin Gould Foundation Eddie Prize

• Second Place, Feature Special Writing Portfolio, Casey Parks — Society for Features Journalism Excellence in Features Awards

• Second Place, General Feature, Sarah Butrymowicz, “Refugee girls want to improve the world. Will we let them do so?” — Society for Features Journalism Excellence in Features Awards

• Second Place, Feature Writing in Large Dailies, Casey Parks, “From prison to dean’s list: How Danielle Metz got an education after incarceration” — Green Eyeshade Awards 

• First Place, Feature Writing in Magazines, Casey Parks, “Nearly All the Seniors at This Charter School Went to College. Only 6 Out of 52 Finished on Time” — Green Eyeshade Awards

• First Place, Digital Innovation in Storytelling, Staff, “A Game of College” — National Headliner Awards 

• First Place, Broadcast Radio Networks and Syndicators Documentary or Public Affairs, Jill Barshay and Sasha Aslanian, Under a Watchful Eye — National Headliner Awards

• Third Place, Online Beat Coverage, Tara García Mathewson, The Future of Learning beat — National Headliner Awards

2019

• Winner, Television Network – General Assignment News: Short Form, Emmanuel Felton, Nearly 750 Charter Schools are Whiter than the Nearby District Schools — NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards

• Winner, Excellence in Media Reporting on Education Research, Jill Barshay, Proof Points — American Educational Research Association

• Winner, January Sidney Award, Sarah Butrymowicz & Meredith Kolodner, “Tangled up in debt” — The Sidney Hillman Foundation

• Front Page Award for investigative reporting (newspapers), Meredith Kolodner and Sarah Butrymowicz, Tangled up in debt — Newswomen’s Club of New York

• Second Place, Videography / Online or Television, Emrys Eller, For students teetering on the edge financially, micro-grants help them finish college — Green Eyeshade Awards

• Second Place, Public Service in Online Journalism, Casey Parks, Immigrant students find hope in soccer, but some states won’t let them play — Green Eyeshade Awards

• Third Place, Online Beat Coverage, Jon Marcus, Higher education — National Headliner Awards

• Finalist, Public Service Award, Meredith Kolodner, State financial-aid money dries up before many low-income college students get help — Education Writers Association

• Finalist, Visual Storytelling, Lillian Mongeau, Ryan Alexander-Tanner and John Osborn D’Agostino, Finding a good preschool isn’t easy: Try it — Education Writers Association

• Finalist, Eddie Award, Jon Marcus, higher education beat coverage — Education Writers Association

• Finalist, Digital Media – Commentary/Weblog, Andre Perry, Degree of Interest — NABJ Salute to Excellence Awards

• Finalist, The Les Payne Award for Coverage on Communities of Color, Emmanuel Felton, Nearly 750 charter schools are whiter than the nearby district schools — The Deadline Club Annual Awards

2018

• Winner, Online feature reporting, Sarah Gonser, Out of poverty, into the middle class — Newswomen’s Club of New York Front Page Awards

• Winner, Special reporting: business, Front Page Awards, Tara García Mathewson and Sarah Butrymowicz, “Tired of fighting that fight”: school districts’ uphill battle to get good deals on ed tech — Newswomen’s Club of New York

• First Winner, Online and Daily newspapers, Education, The community college “segregation machine,” Meredith Kolodner , Brad Racino & Brandon Quester — San Diego Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards

• Finalist, Investigative reporting, Magazines and Weeklies, Emmanuel Felton, The Secession Movement in Education — Education Writers Association

• Finalist, Livingston Award for Young Journalists, Emmanuel Felton, The Secession Movement in Education — Wallace House, University of Michigan

• Fellow, Ida B. Wells Fellowship, Emmanuel Felton — The Investigative Fund

• Grantee, The Dennis A. Hunt Fund for Health Journalism, Emmanuel Felton — Center for Health Journalism, USC Annenberg

• Fellow, Spencer Fellowship in Education Reporting, Emmanuel Felton, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

2017

• Finalist, Topical reporting, Large newsroom, Kyle Spencer, Bullied by the Badge — Online Journalism Awards

• Finalist, Beat reporting, General news outlet (small staff), Tara García Mathewson, Future of Learning beat — Education Writers Association

• Winner, James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism, Emmanuel Felton, How the federal government abandoned the Brown v. Board of Education decision — Hunter College, CUNY

2016

• First Place, Print Feature, Meredith Kolodner, “What happens when a college recruits black students others consider too risky?” — Garden State Journalists Association’s Memorial Journalism Awards

• Finalist, Livingston Award for Young Journalists, Lillian Mongeau, Little to Nothing — Wallace House, University of Michigan

• First Prize, Single-Topic News or Feature, General News Outlet (small staff), Sarah Butrymowicz & Jackie Mader, Mississippi Child Care Crisis — Education Writers Association

• First Prize, Feature Writing, Magazines and Weeklies, Emrys Eller, LynNell Hancock, & Nicole Lewis, Segregation and Integration in the Delta — Education Writers Association

• Winner, Internet Feature Video, Education in the Delta, Emrys Eller & Cariba Party — New York Press Club Journalism Awards

• Winner, Internet Commentary, Degree of Interest, Andre Perry — New York Press Club Journalism Awards

• Finalist, Digital Innovation, Parachuted In an American Public School, John Osborn D’Agostino & Tiffany Lew — Deadline Club Awards

• Winner, Newspaper Investigative Reporting (Daily Circulation 1-50,000), Mississippi Child Care Crisis, Sarah Butrymowicz & Jackie Mader — Sigma Delta Chi Awards

• Finalist, Roy W. Howard Award for Public Service Reporting, Mississippi Child Care Crisis, Sarah Butrymowicz & Jackie Mader — Scripps Howard Awards

• Second Place, Magazine Coverage of a Major News Topic, LynNell Hancock, How School Desegregation Unraveled — National Headliner Awards

• Third Place Place, Web or Interactive Project, John C. Osborn & Tiffany Lew, Parachute Kid — National Headliner Awards

2015

• Winner, Commentary/Internet, Willen Weighs In, Liz Willen — New York Press Club
• First Place, Public Affairs Reporting/Non-Dailies, Nick Chiles, Full-court press for Mississippi third graders in summer school has disappointing results — Green Eyeshade Awards

• First Place, Serious Commentary/Online, Andre Perry, Degree of Interest — Green Eyeshade Awards

• Winner, The Iris Molotsky Award for Excellence in Higher Education, Jon Marcus and Holly Hacker, The rich-poor divide on America’s college campuses is getting wider, fast — The American Association of University Professors

• Second Place, News Story in Digital Media, Unaccompanied minors bring hope, past trauma to American schools, Lillian Mongeau — San Francisco Peninsula Press Club Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards

2014

• Winner, Online-Feature, Sarah Garland, “In Remote Alaskan Villages, Teachers Struggle to Make School Meaningful” — Newswomen’s Club of New York Front Page Awards

• First Prize, Single topic news/feature, General news outlet (small staff), Sara Neufeld, “A Promise to Renew” — Education Writers Association

• First Prize, Beat reporting, General news outlet (small staff), Jon Marcus, Higher education beat — Education Writers Association

• First Prize, Feature writing, Magazines & weeklies, Sarah Carr, “School Discipline in Mississippi and New Orleans” — Education Writers Association

• Finalist, Opinion Writing, Alexandria Neason, “Where Have All the Black and Brown Teachers Gone?” — Education Writers Association

• Honorable Mention, Jon Marcus & Holly K. Hacker, ” Poor Families Are Bearing the Brunt of College Price Hikes/Tuition Tracker” — The Edwin Gould Foundation Eddie Award

• Runner-up, Series, Sarah Butrymowicz & Jackie Mader, with Jerry Mitchell, Emily Le Coz, Kate Royals, and Monica Land of the (Jackson, MS) Clarion Ledger, “Hard Look at Hard Time” — 2015 John Jay College/H.F. Guggenheim Excellence in Criminal Justice Reporting Awards

• Winner, Information Graphics: Planner Coverage, Small Division, “Tuition Tracker” — Best of Digital Design from The Society For News Design

• Second Place, Broadcast Radio Feature, Jill Barshay, “Why Hoboken is Throwing Away All of its Student Laptops” — Garden State Journalists Association’s Memorial Journalism Awards

• Second Place,Series, Sara Neufeld, “A Promise to Renew” — Garden State Journalists Association’s Memorial Journalism Awards

• Third Place, Online Feature Writing, Sara Neufeld, “A taste of victory, finally, for a struggling Newark school” — NJ-SPJ Excellence in Journalism Awards

• Second Place, Radio Enterprise, Jill Barshay, “Why Hoboken is throwing away all of its student laptops” — NJ-SPJ Excellence in Journalism Awards

• First Place Place, Non-Local Online-Enterprise/Series/Investigative Reporting, Sara Neufeld, “A Promise to Renew” — NJ-SPJ Excellence in Journalism Awards

• Second Place, Investigative Reporting/Small Dailies, Sarah Butrymowicz & Jackie Mader, “Pipeline to Prison” — Green Eyeshade Awards

• Second Place, Public Service in Online Journalism, Jackie Mader, Mississippi education reporting — Green Eyeshade Awards

• Third Place, Specialized News Site, Staff, Special Report:Mississippi Learning — Green Eyeshade Awards

• Third Place, Non-deadline Reporting/Online, Kayleigh Skinner, Mississippi education beat — Green Eyeshade Awards

2013

• Winner, Online-Feature, Sarah Garland, “In Remote Alaskan Villages, Teachers Struggle to Make School Meaningful” — Newswomen’s Club of New York Front Page Awards

• Winner, Newspaper In-Depth Reporting, Jackie Mader, “Literacy and STEM Education in Mississippi” — Newswomen’s Club of New York Front Page Awards

• Winner, Internet Continuing Coverage, Sarah Carr, Sarah Garland, Liz Willen, “Mississippi Learning” — The New York Press Club Journalism Awards

• 1st Place, Public/Community Service, Andrew Vanacore, Mark Waller, Sarah Garland, Sarah Carr, “Grading the Graders” in The Times-Picayune — Louisiana/Mississippi Associated Press Managing Editors Division IV Writing Awards

• 1st Place, Print and Electronic Publications Series, Sara Neufeld & John Mooney, The Hechinger Report & NJ Spotlight, “A Promise to Renew” — Garden State Journalists Association Memorial Journalism Awards

• 1st Place, Online Feature Reporting, Sara Neufeld, Jon Mooney, Nancy Solomon, Liz Willen, “A Promise to Renew” — New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Journalism Awards

• 1st Prize, Beat Reporting, Sarah Carr — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• 2nd Place, Online – Enterprise/Series/Investigative Reporting, Sara Neufeld, John Mooney, Nancy Solomon, Amanda Brown, “A Promise to Renew” — New Jersey Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists Journalism Awards

• 2nd Prize, Beat Reporting, Jon Marcus — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• 3rd Place, Education Reporting, Circulation >40,000, Sarah Butrymowicz — Indiana Pro Chapter, Society of Professional Journalists, Best in Indiana Journalism Awards

• Finalist, Newspaper or Digital Beat Reporting, Jon Marcus, Higher Education Reporting — The Deadline Club Annual Awards

• Special Citation, Sara Neufeld, “A Promise to Renew,” The Hechinger Report, NJ Spotlight and WNYC — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Special Citation, Investigative Reporting, Sarah Garland and Jill Barshay — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Honorable Mention, Series/Project, Division 2, Sara Neufeld and John Mooney — Society for Features Journalism Excellence-in-Features awards

2012

• Winner, Nellie Bly Cub Reporter, Best journalistic effort by an individual with three years or less professional experience, Sarah Butrymowicz — The New York Press Club

• First Prize (shared), Investigative Reporting, Jennifer Oldham and April Dembosky — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Special Citation, Single-Day News Coverage or Feature, Print, Large Market, Sarah Garland, Sarah Butrymowicz, Jon Marcus, Jill Barshay – EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

2011

• First Prize (shared), Series Print, Large Market, Staff — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting

• Second Prize, Beat Reporting Print, Small Market, Staff — EWA National Awards for Education Reporting