Into the Future: The Next Generation of Journalists

Washington Weekend 2022: Together in Person 
 
Fifty-one Pulitzer Center Reporting Fellows from our Campus Consortium partners gathered on October 14 for the start of Washington Weekend. They came from schools of public health, community colleges, HBCUs, and journalism schools to speak on panels related to global health, the environment, labor and gender, Indigenous rights, human rights, education, and identity.
 
Over the course of three days, they shared reporting from Guam and Ghana, Pakistan and Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and more, drawing on a wealth of experience and interests. Wasay Mir and Laiba Mubashar from Northwestern University in Qatar reported from Pakistan on women survivors of acid attacks. And Lily Lloyd Burkhalter from School of the Art Institute of Chicago who studied tailoring in Cameroon is now reporting on efforts to keep the traditional Ndop cloth alive.
 
Discussions ranged from the distinctions between art and journalism to the importance of flexibility. Many Fellows learned to pivot while in the field. They went where the story took them. And they often reported on vulnerable communities, showing their courage in facing tough challenges or assaults on traditional ways.
 
Nailah Barnes from Spelman College said, “As someone who is new to this style of writing and freshly out of undergrad, the biggest gift and resource is the generosity of my peers in the 2022 Pulitzer Center cohort; they have been so willing to lend their expertise and foresight.”
 
The Fellows also took part in a 5-mile scavenger hunt starting at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden and ending in Georgetown. We celebrated their reporting at a dinner with two featured speakers: Kadia Goba, a Reporting Fellow alum from Hunter College, now at Semafor, and Azmat Khan, Pulitzer Center board member, New York Times reporter, and director of Global Journalism at Columbia University. 
 
Special thanks to editorial coordinator Libby Moeller and to the entire Pulitzer Center staff for making Washington Weekend a success.  A big shout-out to Pulitzer Center partners and grantees who mentor the Reporting Fellows, several of whom were in attendance throughout the weekend. We’re so grateful for the advice and support they provide—sharing ideas, sources, tips, and contacts. 
 
And congratulations to all the 2022 Reporting Fellows. Stay connected and keep telling stories!
 
View highlights from our first in-person Washington Weekend in three years here. You’ll find Reporting Fellow stories, as well as field notes on our website.

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Impact

Seasons, a film by 2022 Reporting Fellows Gabrielle Canal and Michael Fearon, claimed a Student Academy Award bronze medal at a celebratory event in Los Angeles on October 20. Held at the Academy Museum and hosted by actor-producer Terrance Jenkins, the ceremony honored ten films. The winning films were announced on September 22. A video recording of the ceremony is available here. Since 1972, the Student Academy Awards have “provide[d] a platform for emerging global talent by creating opportunities within the industry to showcase their work,” according to their website.

Published in The New Yorker with accompanying text by Vivian Cheng, Seasons documents defiance and diaspora in the Korean-American No family. Planting and harvesting seasons on Nevia No’s farm in New Jersey complicate and cultivate Nevia’s relationships with her daughter, her Korean-American heritage, and extended family thousands of miles away. Canal and Fearon each wrote field notes about the production process: “Unearthing the Story of 'Seasons'” and “Farming as Art.” View Seasons here.

This message first appeared in the October 28, 2022, edition of the Pulitzer Center's weekly newsletter. Subscribe today.

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