Center for Public Integrity journalists accepted awards at Arizona State University on Thursday night for two projects that illuminated the impacts of — and the fight against — discrimination.
“The Wealth Vortex” — about one woman’s efforts to combat the racial wealth gap in her community — and “Cheated at Work” — about wage theft targeting vulnerable workers — took second and third place, respectively, in the Shaufler Prize in Journalism. The prize honors work that advances understanding of issues facing underserved people in society.
Inside Climate News’ “The Superfund Next Door” took the top prize, and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland’s “Mega Billions: The Great Lottery Wealth Transfer” won the student category.
“Each of these stories, each one, touches not just on the now but on the very, very complicated history that led to these problems,” Pauline Arrillaga, professor and executive editor of ASU’s Carnegie-Knight News21 initiative, told the audience at the reception event. “I often tell my students, especially when you’re reporting on underserved communities and communities of color, you really have to be in touch and in tune with that complicated history.”
Journalists involved with the winning projects discussed their findings at the event. A common thread was systems and institutions failing to protect people’s rights — to an uncontaminated community, to an equal shot at economic stability, to be paid what you’re owed under the law.
“Our mission is to investigate inequality, and the wealth gap in America is at the forefront,” said Janeen Jones, Public Integrity’s design editor, who accepted the award on behalf of her colleague Jamie Smith Hopkins and the Public Integrity and Transmitter Media teams producing The Wealth Vortex stories and podcast.
Public Integrity data reporter Joe Yerardi and Susan Ferriss, a former Public Integrity reporter, shared how data obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request and a deep understanding of the beat led to an investigation about guest workers cheated out of pay.
ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication administers the Shaufler Prize, now in its second year.
Founded in 1989, the Center for Public Integrity is one of the oldest nonprofit news organizations in the country and is dedicated to investigating systems and circumstances that contribute to inequality in the United States.