One of 24 to receive the honor from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Hannah-Jones will receive a $625,000 award to be used at her discretion.

“Being named a MacArthur fellow has been surreal and was totally unexpected,” said Hannah-Jones. “I am grateful for the wider platform this acknowledgement will give to the issue of school segregation in this nation. With the grant, I plan to continue my reporting on racial injustice, including the book on school segregation that I am currently on leave to write.”

A 2015 NABJ Journalist of the Year, Hannah-Jones received a bachelor’s degree (1998) from the University of Notre Dame and a master’s degree (2003) from the University of North Carolina. She was a reporter for The Raleigh News & Observer (2003-2006), The Oregonian(2006-2011), and ProPublica (2011-2015) prior to joining the staff of The New York Times. In 2016, she co-founded the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting with the goal of increasing the number of investigative reporters and editors of color.

“Nikole has had a stellar career. To be named a MacArthur fellow is a very significant achievement and NABJ Is extremely proud of her,” said NABJ President Sarah Glover. “Her work is exemplary and worthy of recognition. She has been the recipient of numerous honors and we know there are more on the horizon as she puts her investigative talents to use. I am looking forward to her book and subsequent projects.”

Her works “chronicling the persistence of racial segregation in American society, particularly in education, and reshaping national conversations around education reform” have been groundbreaking and worthy of recognition by the MacArthur Foundation.

Hannah-Jones is the recipient of several national awards, including the Peabody Award, George Polk Award, National Magazine Award, Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service, and the Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Education Reporting. She was named to The Root 100 in 2015, 2016 and 2017. She is also a 2017 New America Emerson fellow and a Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Journalist.

Dawoud Bey, an acclaimed photographer and educator at Columbia College Chicago, joins Hannah-Jones as a member of the 2017 MacArthur Fellows class. Bey’s long-time commitment to educating and mentoring young artists is evident. His portraits give voice to people from marginalized communities, such as his photo essay, The Birmingham Project, which commemorates the lives of the six children killed in the 1963 bombing.