Liz Willen, Assistant Director: "Second Annual Hechinger Scholastic Prize Awarded To J-School Students At Columbia"

Liz Willen, Assistant Director: "Second Annual Hechinger Scholastic Prize Awarded To J-School Students At Columbia"

Two graduates of Columbia University's School of Journalism are winners of the Fred M. Hechinger Journalism prize, awarded for the second time this year in honor of the former New York Times education editor for whom the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Media is named.

Sarah Lynch (left)received the award for an investigative piece on corruption at for-profit colleges, while Elizabeth Mendez Berry(below)won for her story on a dying Bronx High school. Each will receive $150.

The Hechinger prize comes at the culmination of "Covering Education,'' a spring seminar offered for the second time this spring. The course was jointly developed by the Hechinger Institute on Education and the Columbia and funded through a Knight Foundation grant.

"I take pleasure in standing before the class and offering this recognition for the best education stories,'' said LynNell Hancock, an associate professor at the school who helped design the course. "It raises the bar for this kind of work.''

With a look at twenty key issues in education today, the course is designed to help both undergraduate and graduate-level students gain a strong understanding of critical issues in education and how to cover them. 

The curriculum for the education course can be downloaded from the Hechinger website here. Stories from the course can be viewed here: http://www.coveringeducation.org/schoolstories/
Richard Lee Colvin, director of the Hechinger Institute, said the prize is a great way to recognize journalism that illuminates what happens in schools while meeting the high standards Columbia University sets for its students.


"We are pleased to recognize terrific education reporting from this course for the second year in a row,'' Colvin said. "We also hope this course will be a useful roadmap for journalism professors throughout the country, and will encourage students to consider the many challenges and rewards of the education beat.''