North Gate announces 2015 Spring Awards for exceptional student work

On Tuesday, the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism announced the winners of its annual Spring Awards, recognizing the high quality of students’ reporting, writing and producing. The 2015 Spring Award Committees selected this year’s 17 winning projects from more than 200 submissions in 15 categories covering a broad range of topics and media.

The school also thanked the alumni judges – experienced journalists and subject matter experts who worked on a tight time frame to review each of the submissions.

The 2015 Spring Award Winners are listed below, followed by a list of the alumni who served on the Spring Award Committees.

2015 Spring Awards Winners

North Gate Award for Excellence in Documentary Film

Mark Kurlyandchik, The Homeless Beat

Margaret and Will Hearst Prize for Excellence in Documentary Film

Courtney Quirin, The Georgia Girl

Felker Award for Excellence in Long Form Print Journalism

Jennifer Chaussee, The Nestle Regatao

Nancy DeVille, The Last Witness: Hospice Behind Bars

Wayne F. Miller Award for Excellence in Photojournalism

Terray Sylvester, River of Life

North Gate Award for Excellence in Television Reporting

Emily Gibson, The Buddhist Bin Laden

North Gate Award for Excellence in Radio Reporting

Jennifer Chaussee, The Dogfather

The Jessica Lum Memorial Award for Excellence in Multimedia Reporting

Mark Boyer, Do Smartphones Make Us Smarter or Dumber?

Gobind Behari Lal Award for Excellence in Reporting on a Science or Health Related Story

Jake Nicol, Rare Illness in California Afflicts Children With Polio-Like Symptoms

Knight Award for Best Piece of Narrative Journalism on a Science or Environmental Subject (*Format other than print)

Andra Cernavskis, Sally Schilling, Palcacocha

Knight Award for Best Piece of Narrative Journalism on a Science or Environmental Subject (*Print)

Sukey Lewis, Peak Tuna

Edwin Bayley Prize for Excellence in Government or Political Reporting

Sukey Lewis, Exploiting Inmates

Reva and David Logan Prize for Excellence in Investigative Reporting

Jason Paladino, Sea Dragon Down

Susan Rasky Scholarship Fund for Journalistic Excellence in Political Reporting

Sukey Lewis, Exploiting Inmates

The Randy Shilts Memorial Award for Exceptional Reporting

S. Parker Yesko and Rachel Hiles, Postmortem: The Death of a Community Hospital

Mallory Pickett, You Can’t Go Home Again

Robert Whittington Award for Exceptional Reporting

Shawn Baldwin, Gold Coats – Dementia in Prison

Brian Rinker, The End of Long-Term Drug Rehab

Alumni Judges

• Tamara Keith, NPR, Washington
• Allison Davis, The Cut, New York Magazine
• Joe Heim, Washington Post
• Armand Emamdjomeh, Los Angeles Times
• Rudabeh Shahbazi, CBS4, Miami
• Heather Tuggle, ABC7, San Francisco
• Christina Lopez, 20/20, ABC, New York
• Jessica Meyers, Boston Globe
• Jeff Kearns, Bloomberg
• Julia Chan, CNN
• Mary Spicuzza, Wall Street Journal
• Bo Hee Kim, Storify
• Jeremy Rue, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
• Melanie Mason, Los Angeles Times
• Ian Sherr, CNET
• Lillian Mongeau, The Hechinger Report
• Sarah Hughes, Freelance Journalist, London
• Madeleine Bair, Witness
• Brett Wilkison, Santa Rosa Press Democrat
• Mary Mazzocco, Diablo Valley College
• Daniel Goldstein, Marketwatch, DC
• Will Jason, State Senator Fran Pavley, Communications Director
• Matt Wheeland, SolarEnergy.net
• David Schonauer, Pro Photo Daily
• Christin Ayers, KPIX CBS, San Francisco
• Caitlin Esch, Marketplace, Los Angeles
• Charla Bear, KQED
• Queena Kim, KQED, The California Report
• Robert Lewis, WNYC
• Casey Miner, KALW
• Deepi Brar, Freelance Journalist, Oakland
• Sandhya Somashekhar, Washington Post
• Christina Salerno, TVW News
• Angelica Marin, Freelance Journalist, Italy
• Kim Geiger, Chicago Tribune
• Alexa Vaughn, Seattle Times
• Meghann Farnsworth, Center for Investigative Reporting
• Garance Burke, Associated Press
• Ali Winston, Center for Investigative Reporting
• Angel Gonzalez, Seattle Times
• Alissa Figueroa, This is Fusion
• Samson Reiny, NASA
• Dara Kerr, CNET
• Gosia Wozniacka, Associated Press