2021 Beat Reporting (Large Newsroom) Finalists

Dana Goldstein
The New York Times

How the Pandemic Has Affected Students, Teachers and Families

• Are schools ready for the next big surge?
• The kindergarten exodus
• As school closures near first anniversary, a diverse parent movement demands action
• Schools are open, but many families remain hesitant to return
• Does it hurt children to measure pandemic learning loss?

Comments from the Judges

“She does a good job of jumping from location to location and describing what one community is doing or dealing with, without getting bogged down in detail and slowing down the story. She also manages to sneak in details that add more meaning to an attribution — like noting how one parent ’sighed deeply’ as she spoke to the reporter about her school closing down again, or another mother who ‘rubbed her temples’ just thinking about working with her son on online learning. I think the kindergarten story was groundbreaking and thought-provoking at the national level.”

“These are all good stories, well-told, making good use of  federal data; some studies are original to the NYT, including the drop in kindergarten enrollment. All stories emphasize the racial and socio-economic inequality and disproportionate impact on black, brown, and poor students.”

Erica Green
The New York Times

How the Nation’s Troubles Affected Education

• The students returned, but the fallout from a long disruption remained
• Black Lives Matter, she wrote. Then ‘Everything just imploded.’
• Missing in school reopening plans: Black families’ trust
• A college program for disadvantaged teens could shake up elite admissions
• Surge of student suicides pushes Las Vegas schools to reopen

Comments from the Judges

“The stories included in this submission show a breadth of extremely well-written education stories. The story about Liberty High School laid out a very bleak situation in visceral detail. I’ve seen a lot of reporting about how the pandemic has put stress on schools, but this story did a great job of ’show don’t tell’ with anecdotes from people in the school, and descriptive, scene-setting writing. The story about Queen Anne County schools was well sourced and riveting. In sum, I think Green’s reporting did what national outlets often fail to do well, which is cover a community with thoughtfulness and attention to detail.”

“Comprehensive, varied, nuanced pieces, with unforgettable characters that lay out plainly COVID’s impact on students, teachers, administrators.”

Talia Richman
The Dallas Morning News

Talia Richman: Beat Reporting

• ‘Finally finding our babies’: How Richardson schools are making their gifted classes more diverse
• Texas has millions for school COVID-19 testing. The money has largely gone untouched
• How are Texas schools choosing which books to ban? A look at how one district decides
• Tutoring is key to helping students recover from ‘COVID-slide.’ How can Texas school maximize it?
• Few dyslexic students benefiting from an online tool that’s costing Texas millions

Comments from the Judges

“This entry shows a good range of work, from deeply reported student-level stories about the role of gifted programs, to politics stories about book banning to hard-hitting investigative work. This package is a strong entry for a beat-reporting context because of the variety of stories told well. The writing is clear, the characters are compelling and the story angles are creative. The reporter also includes a strong focus on solutions, making the stories more useful for readers.”

“Talia’s work covers a wide variety of topics, and each story was well-sourced.”

SEE THE FULL LIST OF 2021 CATEGORY FINALISTS