NABJ, EHRP Announce the Winners of COVID-19 and the Black Community Storytelling Grants

The National Association of the Black Journalists (NABJ) and the Economic Hardship Reporting Project (EHRP), a journalism nonprofit, proudly congratulate the winners of a new reporting grant to focus attention on the impact of COVID-19 on the Black community.

According to APM Research Lab, “Black Americans continue to experience the highest overall mortality rates and the most widespread occurrence of disproportionate deaths. Since we began reporting these data, the Black mortality rate across the U.S. has never fallen below twice that of all other groups.”

The winners of the $2,500 grants are Maryland-based filmmaker Courtland Sutton and reporter Janelle Harris Dixon. Sutton will direct a short film about the plight of struggling Black restaurant owners in Charleston, South Carolina. Dixon, a writer in Washington, D.C., will examine how the pandemic affects the mental health of people of color in low-income and working-class communities, already strained by systemic and structural racism.

NABJ Founders Sandra Dillard, Norma Adams Wade and Sandra Dawson Long Weaver, and EHRP’s Managing Director David Wallis, served as contest judges.

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ABOUT NABJ

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) is an organization of more than 4,000 journalists, students, media-related professionals and journalism educators. The association provides innovative, quality programs and services to and advocates on behalf of Black journalists worldwide. Founded in 1975, in Washington, D.C., NABJ is the largest organization for journalists of color in the nation.

ABOUT EHRP

The Economic Hardship Reporting Project aims to change the national conversation around both poverty and economic insecurity. The stories EHRP commissions — including narrative features, photo essays and documentaries — put a human face on financial instability. EHRP co-publishes with top media outlets, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, NBC News, Politico, Vox, Teen Vogue, The Atlantic, The New Yorker and many others.

Media contact:

press@nabj.org

economichardshipreporting@gmail.com