Report for America held its second annual Student Journalism Awards ceremony on April 24. The national competition recognizes and celebrates the work of student journalists working with RFA corps members on their service projects. Mississippi Free Press’s Youth Media Project collected seven awards during the ceremony, the most of any service project led by RFA Corps members.
Mississippi Free Press Editor Donna Ladd, Photo Editor Imani Khayyam and Programming Coordinator Kiden Aloyse-Smith led the 2024 Youth Media Project. Mississippi Free Press reporters and RFA Corps members Torsheta Jackson and Illan Ireland served as mentors. The 2024 YMP summer newsroom focused on elections, including how the media can cover elections better and engage young voters. Their flipbook and stories can be viewed on jxnpulse.com.
The Youth Media Project brings metro area high school students to the Mississippi Free Press newsroom for six weeks each summer. The students learn journalism, photography and videography skills to produce print and video stories.
RFA Student Award Winners:
1st place Best Profile: Ferrari Sharespeare – March to Equality: Alyce Clarke’s Fight for Women’s Rights and Voting in Mississippi
1st place Best Feature Story: Paris Braggs, Caitlyn Russell, Jeremy Thomas and La’Ziyah Walker – ISSUE FOCUS: Redlining, Voting Suppression and Felony Voting Bans Not Just Relics of Past
2nd place for Best News Story: Laila Henderson – From Partisanship to Gridlock: Why Legislation Gets Stuck, Rejected
2nd place Best Op/Ed Piece: Kaitlyn Poole – Opinion | Trump Can Run With 34 Felonies, But Many Mississippians Cannot Vote on Nov. 5
2nd place Best Enterprise: Hannah Evans – The How and the Why: Education Is Key to Motivating Young People to Vote
3rd place Best Enterprise: McKenzie Mathews – ‘Tears of Joy and Pride’: Don’t Be Discouraged, #MakeVotingATrend
3rd place Best Photo: Taylor Brandon – Darlyn Bustillo, Daughter of an Immigrant and Future Immigration Lawyer
