FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Investigative Reporters and Editors has honored students in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media and six other colleges for their work on a national investigation of homelessness.
The Investigative Reporters and Editors, a nonprofit group that trains journalists, awarded the #NowhereToGo series of stories a finalist in the Student (Large) category in its annual awards competition, which involves journalists worldwide.
The #NowhereToGo project was led by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland, which spearheaded the largest collaboration of university journalism programs on a single investigative project. The University of Arkansas was in a coalition that included the University of Maryland, Arizona State University, University of Oregon, Stanford University, Boston University and University of Florida.
The Arkansas students working on the project included Michael Adkison, Mary Ellis, Mary Hennigan, Whitney King, Matthew Moore, Abbi Ross, Katy Seiter, Brooke Tomlin and Abby Zimmardi. All were students in an Advanced Reporting course or an independent study taught by Rob Wells, associate professor of journalism.
The IRE Awards judges said of the #NowhereToGo series: “These stories illustrate why collaborations can lead to groundbreaking investigative work. These stories laid out how cities around the country were responding to homelessness, including criminalizing the people that need the most help.”
