The Education Writers Association is pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 National Awards for Education Reporting, recognizing dogged journalism, accomplished storytelling, and insightful analysis produced by print, radio and online media outlets across the country.

The 62 winning entries, chosen from among hundreds of submissions, came from newsrooms as small as nursery schools and as large as college dormitories. First-place winners are eligible for the Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Education Reporting, whose winner will be announced on May 4^th during EWA’s 66^th National Seminar. All winners will be honored at the event, which is being held from May 2-4 at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California.

Contest judging was conducted independently, under the direction of Chief Judge Tamara M. Cooke Henry, Ph.D., of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland. In all, 25 judges reviewed hundreds of submissions, many coming within a hair's breadth of winning one of the three prizes possible in each category.

                                                                               [PDF of Press Release]  

Below, you will find individual pages to all the winning entries. Clearly, they are worth a read. 

I. GENERAL NEWS OUTLETS, SMALL NEWSROOM: Print or online journalism publications with 25 or fewer FTE newsroom staffers. Written sources of education news, such as dailies and news blogs, are eligible.
 
A. Single-Topic News, Series or Feature:
 
First Prize—Gail Robinson, “Who Killed John Dewey High,” City Limits' Brooklyn Bureau
Second Prize—Morgan Smith, “Death of a District,” Texas Tribune 
Special Citation—Reeve Hamilton, “Completion Crisis,” Texas Tribune
 
B. Beat Reporting: 
 
First Prize—Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, Education Coverage in Connecticut, Connecticut Mirror
 
C. Investigative Reporting: 
 
First Prize—Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, Keith M. Phaneuf, and Mark Pazniokas for their series on higher education improprieties within the state board of regents, Connecticut Mirror
 
C. Opinion: 
 
No Winner
 
II. GENERAL NEWS OUTLETS, MEDIUM NEWSROOM: Print or online journalism publications with a FTE newsroom staff of 26 to 100 employees. Written sources of education news, such as dailies and news blogs, are eligible. 
 
A. Single-Topic News, Series or Feature: 
 
First Prize—Ben Arnoldy, “Many Children Left Behind,” The Christian Science Monitor
Second Prize—Nate Rau, “Concussions: The Invisible Injury,” The Tennessean
Special Citation—Amanda Paulson, “How to Measure a Good Teacher,” The Christian Science Monitor
 
B. Beat Reporting: 
 
First Prize—Benjamin Herold, Beat Reporting on Philadelphia Public Schools, WHYY/NewsWorks  and The Philadelphia Public School Notebook  
Second Prize—Topher Sanders, Beat Reporting on Jacksonville Education, The Florida Times-Union
Special Citation—Megan Boehnke, Higher Education Coverage in East Tennessee, Knoxville News Sentinel
 
And
 
Dave Breitenstein, Beat Reporting on Florida Higher Education, The News-Press
  
C. Investigative Reporting:
 
First Prize—Susan Ferriss, The Center for Public Integrity; Krissy Clark, KQED; and Vanessa Romo, KPCC for “Punishing Numbers”  
Second Prize—Zahira Torres, El Paso School District Cheating Investigation, El Paso Times
Special Citation—Dan Kane, J. Andrew Curliss and Andrew Carter, UNC Academic Fraud, The News & Observer
 
D. Opinion: 
 
First Prize—Robert Moore, El Paso Independent School District editorials, El Paso Times
 
III. GENERAL NEWS OUTLETS, LARGE NEWSROOM: Print or online journalism publications with a FTE newsroom staff of more than 100 employees. Written sources of education news, such as dailies and news blogs, are eligible. 
 
A. Single-Topic News, Series or Feature: 
 
First Prize—Denise-Marie Ordway, Jeff Kunerth, Stephen Hudak, and David Breen, FAMU Hazing Death, Orlando Sentinel
Second Prize—Daniel Golden, “Campus Spying,” Bloomberg
Special Citation—Justin Pope, Title IX and Sexual Assault on Campus, The Associated Press
 
 B. Beat Reporting: 
 
First Prize—Stephanie Simon, National Education Coverage, Reuters
Second Prize—Justin Pope, National Higher Education Beat, The Associated Press
Special Citation—Betsy Hammond, Oregon Education Reporting, The Oregonian
 
C. Investigative Reporting: 
 
First Prize—David Jackson, Gary Marx, Alex Richards and Scott Strazzante, An Empty-Desk Epidemic, Chicago Tribune
Second Prize—Jennifer Smith Richards and Bill Bush, Counting Kids Out, The Columbus Dispatch
 
And
 
Betsy Hammond, Diplomas Denied, The Oregonian  
 
D. Opinion: 
 
First Prize—Kate N. Grossman, Opinion Writing on Education in Chicago, Chicago Sun-Times
 
 
 IV. EDUCATION-ONLY NEWS OUTLETS: Print, online or broadcast journalism outlets that cover exclusively education, maintain editorial independence and are not published or produced by advocacy groups, professional organizations, higher education institutions, alumni periodicals or think tanks. There are no size restrictions. 
 
A. Single-Topic News, Series or Feature: 
 
First Prize—Libby Sander, “Out of Uniform: Student Veterans,” The Chronicle of Higher Education
 
Second Prize—Benjamin Herold, Connie Langland, Samantha Byles, Dale Mezzacappa, Paul Jablow, Michelle Schmitt, Paul Socolar, Wendy Harris, Joseph Kemp, Harvey Finkle, and Erika Owens, Philadelphia Public School Notebook, with Todd Vachon and Jessica Kourkounis, WHYY/NewsWorks, for, “College for a Few”
 
And
 
Goldie Blumenstyk, Scott Carlson, Tom Bartlett, Dan Berrett, Karin Fischer, Eric Hoover, Jack Stripling, Beckie Supiano, Jeff Young, Brad Wolverton, Robin Wilson,
Aisha Labi and Jennifer Howard, “College, Reinvented,” The Chronicle of Higher Education
 
Special Citation—Sara Neufeld, “A Promise to Renew in Newark,” The Hechinger Report, NJ Spotlight and WNYC
 
B. Beat Reporting: 
 
First Prize—Sarah Carr, K-12 in the South, The Hechinger Report
Second Prize—Stacey Patton, Covering Graduate Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education
 
And
 
Jon Marcus, Higher Education Beat, The Hechinger Report
 
Special Citation—Jack Stripling, Covering College Leadership, The Chronicle of Higher Education
 
C. Investigative Reporting: 
 
First Prize—Melody Petersen, “As Beef Cattle Become Behemoths, Who Are Animal Scientists Serving?”, The Chronicle of Higher Education
  
Second Prize—Nancy Mitchell, Rebecca Jones, Jordan Wirfs-Brock, and Jon Sisk, EdNews Colorado; Katie Kerwin-McCrimmon, Solutions; and Burt Hubbard, Laura Frank and Joe Mahoney, I-News Network for “Medical Marijuana and K-12 schools”
           
Special Citation—Brad Wolverton, Investigating College Athletics, The Chronicle of Higher Education
 
And
 
Sarah Garland and Jill Barshay of The Hechinger Report and Beth Fertig of WNYC for “Teaching the Teachers NYC”
 
D. Opinion: 
 
First Prize—Jeffrey Selingo, Next: The Future of Higher Education, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Second Prize—Anthony Cody, A Teacher in Dialogue with the Gates Foundation, Education Week
 
Special Citation—Lawrence Blum, Five Things High School Students Should Know About Race, Harvard Education Letter
 
And
 
Richard Weissbourd, Promoting Moral Development in Schools, Harvard Education Letter
 
 
V. BROADCAST: Entries may include spot news, feature segments, special programs, newscasts, streamed online stories, or podcasts for television or radio journalism organizations that maintain editorial independence and are not produced by lobbying groups, professional organizations, educational institutions, alumni periodicals, advocates or think tanks.
 
A. Single-Topic News, Series or Feature: 
 
First Prize—Jenny Brundin, “Trevista,” Colorado Public Radio
Second Prize—Beth Fertig and Patricia Willens, “Charters & Choices,” WNYC
Special Citation—Kyla Calvert, Katie Euphrat, and Nic McVicker, Student homelessness in San Diego, KPBS
 
B. Beat Reporting: 
 
First Prize—Dan Carsen, Education Beat Reporting, The Southern Education Desk/WBHM
Second Prize—Christine Jessel, Beat Reporting in Tennessee, The Southern Education Desk /WUOT-FM
Special Citation—Jenny Brundin, Beat Reporting, Colorado Public Radio
 
C. Investigative Reporting: 
 
First Prize—Kavitha Cardoza and Ginger Moored, “American Graduate,” WAMU Public Radio  
Second Prize—John O'Connor and Sarah Gonzalez of StateImpact Florida with WUSF and WLRN; and Mc Nelly Torres and Lynn Waddell, Florida Center for Investigative Reporting , for “13th Grade (Remedial Education in Florida)”
 
Special Citation—Kavitha Cardoza, “No Place Like Home,” WAMU Public Radio
 
 
VI. MAGAZINES AND WEEKLIES: Print and online magazines and weekly newspapers that are editorially independent and not published by advocacy groups.  
 
A. Feature Reporting: 
 
First Place—Peg Tyre, “The Writing Revolution,” The Atlantic
Second Prize—Ted C. Fishman, “The Tuition Jackpot,” The New York Times Magazine
Special Citation—Peg Tyre, "Making the Grade: When Do Kids Deserve A's?", Family Circle
 
 B. Investigative Reporting: 
 
First Prize—Ron French, “Michigan’s Forgotten Four-Year-Olds,” Bridge Magazine
 
VII. EDUCATION ORGANIZATIONS AND EXPERTS: Content produced by advocacy groups, professional organizations, higher education institutions, alumni periodicals, think tanks, and individual advocates, activists and bloggers are eligible.
 
A. Continuing Coverage of an Issue:
 
First Prize—Mariko Nobori, Zachary Fink, David Markus, Vanessa Vega, “Schools That Work,” Edutopia
Second Prize—Rachel Fishman, Financial Aid, New America Foundation
Special Citation—Lisa Palmer, “Climate Science,” The Daily Climate, a publication of Environmental Health Sciences
 
B. Best Blog:
 
First Prize—Michael J. Petrilli, Flypaper, a publication of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Second Prize—Frank D. LoMonte, Adam Goldstein and Sara Gregory, FERPA Fact, a publication of the Student Press Law Center
 
And
 
Ray Salazar, writer of The White Rhino: A Chicago Latino English Teacher
 
Special Citation—Peter W. Cookson Jr., Thomas Dawson, Joni Finney, Jeff Selingo, Ben Wildavsky, and Chad Aldeman, The Quick and the Ed, a publication of Education Sector