Pulitzer Center Update

Student Fellow Alum Honored by the Society of Professional Journalists’ Florida 2019 Sunshine State Awards

July 23, 2019 | Education news, Awards
By
Meghana Mysore
Image courtesy of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Image courtesy of the Society of Professional Journalists.

2018 Student Fellow Jared Olson from Flagler College has been honored by the Society of Professional Journalists Florida 2019 Sunshine State Awards, winning second place in the Best Feature Story student category for his Pulitzer Center-supported reporting on Mexico's Zapatistas and their fight against Indigenous repression. 

Forced from their village by armed invaders, the people of Nicolas Ruiz have set up camp in the center of San Cristobal de las Casas. They live in a makeshift tarp ill-fitted to protect them from the elements. Image by Jared Olson. Mexico, 2018.

Forced from their village by armed invaders, the people of Nicolas Ruiz have set up camp in the center of San Cristobal de las Casas. They live in a makeshift tarp ill-fitted to protect them from the elements. Image by Jared Olson. Mexico, 2018.

Olson's Pulitzer Center project focused on the former guerrilla group and the impact of their nonviolent approach to resistance. Olson's award is for his feature, "The Displaced Campesinos of Nicolas Ruiz," which highlights the stories of the dezplazados (displaced) people of Nicolas Ruiz—a remote farming village in Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state—who are demanding justice for crimes committed against them. 

Professional journalists and journalism educators from outside the Florida market judge all student entries to the Sunshine State Awards, now in its 25th year. To see the full list of professional journalist and student winners for the 2019 competition, please visit here.