Maynard Institute fellows, faculty and alums continue to create change in journalism and in their communities, breaking into new roles and winning awards for their consistently humanizing, community-oriented, and groundbreaking journalism across myriad beats and investigative paths. Join us in celebrating their accomplishments and contributions to the field of journalism.
Awards and Fellowships
Michael Lyle, Maynard 200 alum and reporter for Nevada Current, was one of 25 journalists selected for the National Press Foundation Community Development Fellowship convening in Missoula, MT “learn more about the policies and investments related to health, wealth and overall community well-being in large, small and mid-sized cities.”
Maynard 200 alum and CEO of the Institute for Nonprofit News Karen Rundlet was named one of The NonProfit Times’ Power and Influence Top 50.
Block Club Reporter and Maynard 200 alum Rachel Hinton was honored with a DePaul Distinguished Alumna Award.
Joshua Barajas, 2024 Maynard 200 Fellow, and the PBS NewsHour team received the 2024 Newsletter Journalism Award from the National Press Club for their newsletter “Here’s the Deal.” Even more critical in a historic election year, “Here’s the Deal” breaks down and simplifies Capitol Hill happenings and their relevance to the everyday lives of Americans.
Eleanore Catolico, Maynard 200 alum class of 2021, won second place in the Society for Features Journalism writing competition for the category “Inclusion and Representation in Features.”
Walter Smith Randolph, Maynard 200 class of 2023, was selected to the NABJ Leadership Academy Cohort 2024.
Angela Chen, Maynard 200 class of 2021, has been awarded a Carter Center Fellowship.Recipients of the Rosalyn Carter Fellowship for Mental Health Journalism pursue groundbreaking mental health journalism projects, reporting on the mental health’s biggest challenges, reducing stigma surrounding mental illness through storytelling, and driving change through community-oriented journalism.
Heidi Chang, 2002 Maynard Cross-Reporting Fellow, received the AAJA Award for Excellence in Audio Storytelling.
Rachel James-Terry Maynard 200 class of 2023, was named a “Woman to Watch” by PR Week.
Boston Globe mental health reporter and 2018 Maynard 200 alum Esmy Jimenez won one First Place and two Second Place awards from SPJ Washington.
2024 Maynard 200 Fellow Erica McIntosh received an Edward R. Murrow Award for her reporting on mini-documentary “Miss Gen from Georgia” with Connecticut Public Broadcasting.
2019 Maynard 200 alum Natasha S. Alford received her Masters in Public Policy from Princeton University, and her young son participated in awarding her degree, a moment which was captured for posterity.
2022 Maynard 200 alum Joe Ruiz was selected for a John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship. JSK fellows receive nine months of support at Stanford exploring and testing practical solutions to journalism’s systemic problems and urgent questions from AI to misinformation and mistrust in journalism.
Jasmine Vaughn-Hall, Maynard 200 class of 2021, won Best of Show from the MDDC Press Association.
Allison Jing Yang, 2024 Maynard 200 Fellow and Senior Editor of Initium Media, was recognized with a 2024 Human Rights Press Award for Investigative Writing.
Helina Selemon, Maynard 200 class of 2023, was recognized with a Solutions Journalism Award for her story on the heat crisis and gun violence. Last month, Helina co-presented data reporting methods for heat-related gun violence with faculty member Aaron Glantz.
Josh McGhee, Maynard 200 alum class of 2023 received several awards in quick succession: Josh was awarded a McGraw Fellowship for Business Journalism and will be investigating how hospitals profit from involuntary mental health treatment laws.
He was also recognized with a 2024 Community Media Awards Studs Terkel Award for his work on criminal justice and mental health with MindSite News, and won Best Collaboration in the inaugural Stillwater Awards recognizing excellence in prison journalism.
Josh also received a Gold Award from Digital Health Awards for his coverage of criminal justice and mental health.
New Books and Podcasts
Dr. Jonathan P. Higgins, Maynard 200 class of 2018, just announced the release of their book, “Black Fat Femme,” based on their award-winning podcast, coming out March 25, 2025.
Maynard Media Academy alum Ebony Reed released “Fifteen Cents on the Dollar, How Americans Made the Black-White Wealth Gap” with co-author Louise Story, and embarked on a successful press tour, giving many interviews explaining the concepts of wealth, debt, and generational security and how nearly 200 years after the end of chattel slavery and the first proposals of reparations, the Black-White wealth gap persists.
Industry Impact and Events
Brianna Tucker, Maynard 200 class of 2022 and Deputy Campaign Editor with the Washington Post, was voted NABJ Chair of the Political Task Force for 2024.
Anniversaries
Marian Chia-Ming Liu, 2021 Maynard 200 alum-turned-faculty, marked five years at the Washington Post. She also spearheaded the AAJA Style Guide project, an essential guide to covering Asian American and Pacific Islander communities with cultural competence and sensitivity.
Faculty and Leadership Updates
Faculty Member Ron Nixon was awarded the Dorothy Butler Gilliam Trailblazer Award by the Washington Association of Black Journalists for his own trailblazing career as an exemplary investigative journalist and for being an exceptional leader in journalism. The award was established in honor of Maynard Institute co-founder Dorothy Butler Gilliam, who in 1961 became the first Black woman reporter at the Washington Post and still retains a board position with the Maynard Institute.
Steve Padilla, Maynard 200 faculty member and Editor of the LA Times’ Column One, inducted into the NAHJ Hall of Fame.
Faculty member Aaron Glantz began his resident fellowship at the Center for the Advanced Study of the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, and will be using the same office in which Palestinian academic titan Edward Said wrote his most famous work, “Orientalism.” Building on his experience at the Carter Center, Glantz aims “to incubate an initiative that builds resilience for investigative journalists, human rights advocates, and others dedicated to social change.”
Board member Kevin Merida won a 2024 Richard M. Clurman Award for his superb on-the-job mentorship of young journalists from the University of Michigan Wallace Center for Journalists.
Sandra Clark, Maynard 200 faculty member, was listed as one of Editor & Publisher’s “15 over 50.”
Mei-Ling Hopgood, consultant and member of the extended Maynard Family was honored with a University Teaching Award.
Role Transitions and New Beats
Penda Howell, Maynard 200 class of 2019, joined the National News Publisher’s Association/The Black Press.
The Maynard Institute is proud to see Momo Chang join Civil Eats as their new Senior Editor after serving nearly five years as Co-Director of Oakland Voices.
Alison Saldanha, Maynard 200 class of 2022, left the Seattle Times and is headed to Dallas News.
Maynard 200 alum Kristin J. Bender joined the San Jose Mercury News and Bay Area News Group as a regional transportation reporter, covering both ground and air transportation and the many connections throughout the Bay Area.
Jahna Berry, Maynard 200 alum and Chief Operating Officer of Mother Jones, recently became a board member with Equal Rights Advocates, a nonprofit organization fighting for gender justice since 1974.
The Maynard Family Continues to Grow
The Maynard Institute for Journalism Education is proud of all members of our Maynard Family. We’re excited to continue this work with optimism and passion for diversity and belonging in journalism, and can’t wait to see what our Fellowship graduates and Fault Lines training recipients will do next to build inclusive and equitable news ecosystems in the new year.
Our work is made possible by individual donors, The California Endowment, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, Democracy Fund, Ford Foundation, The Hearthland Foundation, Inasmuch Foundation, Knight Foundation, Jacob and Valeria Langeloth Foundation, The Reva and David Logan Foundation, and the MacArthur Foundation.
About the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education
Since 1977, the Maynard Institute has fought to push back against the systemic lack of diversity in the news industry through training, collaborations and convenings. Founded by Robert C. Maynard, the Institute promotes diversity and antiracism in the news media through improved coverage, hiring and business practices. We are creating better representation in U.S. newsrooms through our programs , which gives media professionals of color the tools to become skilled storytellers, empowered executives and inspired entrepreneurs.
Are you an alum with exciting professional news?
Contact Community Engagement Coordinator, Amani Hamed, at ahamed(at)mije(dot)org to be featured in our next Maynard Family Update.