UFCJC Student Project, “The Price of Plenty,” Wins 2024 SEJ Award for Outstanding Student Reporting on the Environment
“The Price of Plenty,” a collaboration between the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) and the University of Missouri, received first place for Outstanding Student Reporting in the 23rd Annual Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) Awards for Reporting on the Environment.
Funded by a grant from the Pulitzer Center’s nationwide Connected Coastlines reporting initiative, “The Price of Plenty” was comprised of a team of 19 undergraduate student journalists from both universities reporting on fertilizer and its consequences from the ground up. The students spent five months creating reports on Florida’s “Bone Valley,” where earth movers strip-mine phosphate, on agrichemical plants, and along the Mississippi River Gulf of Mexico’s “dead zone,” where fertilizer runoff threatens one of the world’s most productive fisheries. They also traveled from farm fields to legislative hallways to communities stuck next door to the industry.
UFCJC Environmental Journalist-in-Residence and Senior Lecturer Cynthia Barnett and Missouri School of Journalism Associate Professor Sara Shipley Hiles designed the course for journalism students to report on the cycle of fertilizer and its consequences.
Members of the UFCJC student team were Alan Halaly, Julia Cooper, Katie Delk, Fernando Figueroa, Abigail Hasebroock, Lucille Lannigan, Serra Sowes, Elliot Tritto, Lauren Whiddon and Ana Clara Mattiuzzi Martins.
UFCJC faculty and staff who assisted with production and editing include Matt Sheehan, Ethan Magoc and Kristin Moorehead. Additional support was provided by April Hines, Ryan Vasquez, Cally House and Ted Bridis.
The Society of Environmental Journalists’ annual Awards for Reporting on the Environment honor the best environmental journalism in 10 categories, bringing recognition to the stories that are among the most important on the planet. Prizes are $500 for first-place winners and $250 for second-place winners in all categories. In addition, the Nina Mason Pulliam Award for the “best of the best” environmental reporting will award $10,000 to one entry selected from the first-place winners of SEJ’s Awards for Reporting on the Environment. Sponsored by the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, this prestigious award will be announced live on Jan. 28.
The project also received the 2024 Online News Association (ONA) David Teeuwen Student Journalism Award.
Posted: October 23, 2024
Category: Alumni News, College News, Environmental News, Student Awards, Student News
Tagged as: April Hines, Cally House, Cynthia Barnett, Ethan Magoc, Kristin Moorehead, Matt Sheehan, SEJ Awards for Reporting on the Environment, Ted Bridis, The Price of Plenty
