MLK50’s youth justice and life reporter Rebecca Cadenhead and visual journalist Kevin Wurm were winners in Report for America’s local news awards, which were announced Friday.
Report for America is a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. The organization aims to ensure that undercovered issues and communities receive news coverage, in support of a strong democracy. Both Cadenhead and Wurm are corps members; Wurm is also a fellow with CatchLight, an initiative that places full-time photojournalists in local newsrooms.
Cadenhead received a first-place award for her investigative series “No school, no fresh air and isolated” about solitary confinement being used at the Shelby County youth detention center. Wurm received two awards; he won a first-place prize for the anonymous portrait of a teen featured in Cadenhead’s series and a second-place award for a series of images that tell the story of resistance to the National Guard’s deployment in Memphis.
“Winning these awards in the company of such great photographers and journalists across the country means a lot and is very validating,” said Wurm.
The Local News Awards winners were chosen from more than 200 pieces of reporting from nearly 100 RFA corps members, according to the organization. Winners were recognized during a virtual ceremony on June 24.
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