Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Announces 2024 Book and Journalism Award Winners

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May 21, 2024, 13:30 ET

NEW YORK, May 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights today announced the winners of its 2024 RFK Book and Journalism Awards during a virtual ceremony with remarks by president Kerry Kennedy and featuring special guest presenters Kimberly Adams, Michael Beschloss, Margaret Engel, Annette Gordon-Reed, Van Jones, Rory Kennedy, Nicholas Kristof, Arantxa Loizaga, Craig Melvin, Natalie Morales, Amna Nawaz, Soledad O'Brien, Symone Sanders, and John Seigenthaler.

Award winners were honored for their work documenting pressing social issues and human rights abuses. Winning entries were selected from roughly 400 global submissions.

"Journalists and authors empower change. Their work is a rallying cry, drawing attention to the abuses and inequities that cannot be ignored," said Kerry Kennedy, president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. "The writers, photographers, artists, and producers who tell these stories are critical to preserving democracy and protecting human rights. We are honored to celebrate them today."

Among the Journalism Award winners:

Carnegie-Knight News21, housed at Arizona State University, won the College Journalism Award for its project “America After Roe.” Featuring the work of 25 student journalists from nine universities, the project examines how the monumental decision has gone beyond abortion bans and courthouse battles to more broadly affect health care, culture, policy, and people. “America After Roe” was also named the Grand Prize Winner.
The Marshall Project won this year's Criminal Justice Award for its three-part series "When Guards Abuse Prisoners," which investigates how a correctional department disciplines — or fails to discipline — its officers.
Netflix and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting won the Domestic Television Award for their piece "Victim/Suspect," which documents a shocking nationwide pattern - young women tell police they've been sexually assaulted, but instead of finding justice, they're charged with a crime, arrested, and imprisoned by the very system they believed would protect them.
The Associated Press won the International Photography Award for its coverage of the war in Gaza, with judges praising the skill, empathy, and experience of staff photographer Fatima Shbair as she covers the ongoing humanitarian crisis. "War in Gaza" also received the John Seigenthaler Courage in Journalism Award.

This year's Book Award winner is "Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class" by acclaimed historian Blair LM Kelley. Spanning two hundred years, "Black Folk" highlights the lives of the laundresses, Pullman porters, domestic maids, and postal workers who established the Black working class as a force in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Kelley weaves her ancestors' story into the history, adding a personal, moving, and very human narrative.

The annual competition, in place since 1969 for journalism categories and 1980 for the Book Award, highlights exemplary work that explores issues of human rights, social justice, and the power of individual action. It is one of the few awards in its field determined by peers.

We are grateful to Mort Zuckerman and the Zuckerman Family Foundation for their support of this year's Robert F. Kennedy Book and Journalism Awards ceremony. Special thanks to historian and author Michael Beschloss, head of the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award committee, and Margaret Engel, director of the Alicia Patterson Journalism Foundation and chair of the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards committee, as well as the committees and many volunteer judges who participated this year.

The full list of honorees for the 2024 RFK Book and Journalism Awards can be found below.

High School Journalism
The Hidden Homeless
Naperville Central High School
Nathan Yuan

College Journalism and Grand Prize
America After Roe
Carnegie-Knight News21
Housed at Arizona State University, in partnership with University of Oregon, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Florida International University, University of Colorado Boulder, St. Bonaventure University, University of Oklahoma, University of North Texas, Ohio Wesleyan University

Nontraditional Media
Alone and Exploited
The New York Times
Hannah Dreier

Domestic Print
Inside the Psychiatric Hospitals Where Foster Kids Are a "Gold Mine"
Mother Jones
Julia Lurie

Domestic Photo
Black Maternal Mortality
The Washington Post
Jahi Chikwendiu

Domestic Television
Victim/Suspect
Netflix and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting
Rachel De Leon, Chris Celements, Nancy Schwartzman, Julie Goldman, Tracy Elizabeth Jarrett, Amanda Pike, Alice Henty, Inbal Lessner, J. Daniel Torres, Sabrina Schmidt Gordon

International Print
China: The Superpower of Seafood
The Outlaw Ocean Project
Ian Urbina

International Photo and John Seigenthaler Courage in Journalism Award
War in Gaza
The Associated Press
Fatima Shbair

International Television
Inside the Iranian Uprising
Frontline (PBS)
Majed Neisi, Sasha Joelle Achilli, James Allnutt, Dan Edge, Andrew Metz, Raney Aronson-Rath

Criminal Justice
When Guards Abuse Prisoners
The Marshall Project
Joseph Neff, Alysia Santo

Radio
Hidden Confessions of the Mormon Church
Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX
Michael Montgomery, Michael Rezendes, Jason Dearen, Brett Myers, Tom Berman

Cartoon
Art by Peter Kuper

Book
Black Folk: The Roots of the Black Working Class
Liveright
Blair LM Kelley

About Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that has worked to realize Robert F. Kennedy's dream of a more just and peaceful world since 1968. In partnership with local activists, RFK Human Rights advocates for key human rights issues, championing change makers and pursuing strategic litigation at home and around the world. And to ensure change that lasts, we foster a social-good approach to business and investment and educate millions of students about human rights and social justice.

SOURCE Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights