NM In Depth wins 10 awards from Press Women’s Association

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The work of New Mexico In Depth reporters, editors and Fellows has been recognized with 10 awards from the New Mexico Press Women’s Association, including stories that have explored the real-life consequences for DACA recipients of the Trump administration’s policies and whether young people are leaving the state because of a lack of opportunities. Also garnering awards were articles examining the effect of money in the Albuquerque mayor’s race and a look at the city’s urban Indian population three years after two homeless Native Americans were killed in a vicious attack.

“We’re extraordinarily proud of our showing,” said NMID Executive Director Trip Jennings, citing in particular the honors three of NMID’s Fellows — Xchelzin Peña, Melorie Begay and Robert Salas — won in the contest. All three are the first recipients of NMID’s Fellowships. NMID started the program in 2016 for journalism students and recent graduates of color at the University of New Mexico and New Mexico State University.

Also gratifying was the breadth of issues covered by NMID’s award-winning stories,  Jennings said. A series examining a controversial 2016 federal law enforcement operation in Albuquerque that arrested a disproportionately high numbers of minorities also garnered an award, as did an in-depth analysis of New Mexico’s educational challenges and a review of court cases stemming from Gov. Susana Martinez’s disastrous crackdown on the state’s behavioral health providers in 2013.

“It speaks to how ambitious NMID is that we covered so much ground and so many issues in 2017,” Jennings said.

In case you missed them, we’ve rounded up the award-winning stories here:

First Place  

Robert Salas, “UNM Grads are Leaving the State,” Collegiate/Education Writing-News

DACA recipient Michel Nieves

Xchelzen Peña, “Hopes and Fears: One DACA Recipient’s Story,” Writing, News Story, Print-based newspaper

Marjorie Childress, “Money in Politics in the Albuquerque Mayoral Race,” Writing, Continuing Coverage or Unfolding News

Colleen Keane, “Three Years after Attack, Urban Indian Population Remains Vulnerable,”  Writing, Specialty Articles — Social Issues

Second Place  

Melorie Begay, “Fracking Boom Leads to Tension in Navajo Communities,” Collegiate/Education Writing — News

Trip Jennings, “Closed Loopholes, Medicaid Cuts and Potential Higher Health Insurance Costs Buried in Gov. Supported Bill,” Writing, News Story — Print-based Newspaper

Sylvia Ulloa, “Education in New Mexico,” which included stories on a historic lawsuit against the state over education funding, and a Dona Ana County coalition’s work to create a plan for universal access to early childhood education. Writing, Speciality Articles —Education

Jeff Proctor, Trip Jennings, Marjorie Childress, “Stung In Albuquerque,” Writing, News Investigative Reporting

Jeff Proctor, “Throwing Away the Key: “New Mexico’s 30-year Lifers Denied a Fair Shot at Parole,” Enterprise Reporting

Third Place

Trip Jennings and Sylvia Ulloa, “The Slow Motion Unraveling of New Mexico’s Medicaid Crackdown,” Enterprise Reporting

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