Pulitzer Center Update

Pat Nabong, Jeffrey E. Stern, and Adam Yates Named Finalists for Amnesty International USA Media Awards

Amnesty International USA Media Awards. 2019.

Amnesty International USA Media Awards. 2019.

On Thursday, March 21, 2019, Amnesty International announced the finalists for its USA Media Awards. Pulitzer Center grantee Jeffrey E. Stern and Pulitzer Center student fellows Pat Nabong and Adam Yates were recognized. 

Stern was named a finalist in the International category for his New York Times Magazine piece, “From Arizona to Yemen: The Journey of an American Bomb,” which traces an airstrike in Yemen halfway around the world—back to an American bomb factory. The reporting is part of Stern’s larger Pulitzer Center-supported project, “Judgement Day,” which aims to show readers what it looks, sounds, and feels like to be in a village under attack by American weapons.

Nabong and Yates, student fellows from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, were each nominated in the Student Journalism category. Nabong was recognized for “Alone in the Aftermath: Families of Slain Drug Suspects Struggle with Little Support.” The story focuses on the psychological toll of Duterte’s drug war in the Philippines.

Yates’ nominated piece, “Deadly Pit Toilets and the Rights to a Basic Education,” examines education infrastructure in rural South Africa—an area where—even with a clause in the Constitution that states that everyone has the right to a basic education—two children have drowned in dilapidated pit toilets at their schools since 2014.

The Amnesty International USA Media Awards recognize excellence in human rights reporting and the vital role of a free press. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on April 3, 2019, in New York, NY.