Awards & Recognitions
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Nicole Carr
ProPublica, New York, NY
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Nicole Carr | Pro Publica | June 16, 2022 | 7,200 words
This was the scariest story I read all week. Cecilia Lewis was hired in 2021 by the Cherokee County School District in Georgia to be its first-ever administrator focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. But she hadn’t started the job — indeed, she hadn’t even moved down South from her longtime home in Maryland — before a mob of white parents decided she had to go. They sent her racist messages, spread lies about her, and screamed at school board meetings to get their way. And when Lewis took a different job, one county over, they didn’t stop. Nicole Carr’s feature is a searing reminder of just how vicious the right-wing war on progressive education in America has become, and a revealing look at the kind of people — white parents, riding a wave of national bigotry — who are leading troops into battle. —SD
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Nicole Carr of ProPublica wins the July Sidney Award for “White Parents Rallied to Chase a Black Educator Out of Town. Then, They Followed Her to the Next One,” a deeply reported story about Cecelia Lewis, a distinguished Black educator who was harassed, threatened, and surveilled after accepting a job to help a Georgia school district combat educational disparities.
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“This story got to the uncomfortable, messy truth beyond the headlines and how it impacts the lives of real human beings who can’t escape online mobs and disinformation. The reporter did a fine weaving of an absolutely memorizing narrative that brought readers along and kept them reading for the length of the story. One of the best education stories of the entire year.”
“This story put a personal face on the anti-CRT efforts that helped unpack the intentions of educators who value inclusion and cultural sensitivity. I could feel (a small part) the lack of safety the story’s subject felt and the vitriol of those opposed to CRT really came through. I appreciated how this story wasn’t bogged down with national political tropes. This personal story really did the talking and provided an intimate account of how lies and misinformation about CRT are having real-world consequences.”
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