Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Scripps Howard Foundation last week named Emily Alpert a finalist in Community Journalism

VOSD Reporter Honored With National Recognition

Emily Alpert works really hard. That seems to be getting noticed.

The Scripps Howard Foundation last week named Alpert a finalist in the Community Journalism category for her work on the education beat throughout 2009.

Alpert's work included her Insert Teacher Here series examining the classroom impacts of the district's rigid teacher placement system, her watchdog work on the County Office of Education and stories analyzing the departure of Superintendent Terry Grier and the battle for a South County school.

The winner was Daniel Gilbert of the Bristol Herald Courier in Virginia. (Who turns out to be Alpert's former classmate and neighbor.)

Scripps Howard doesn't always name finalists in each category but does when it finds exemplary work. So it's kind of like Alpert won the silver medal in an event they don't always award a silver medal in.

She was also recognized recently with a special citation in the National Awards for Education Reporting from the Education Writers Association for beat reporting in publications with a circulation of less than 100,000. Last year, she won EWA's first place award for investigative reporting.

Congrats, Emily. You deserve all the recognition that you receive (and more).

-- ANDREW DONOHUE

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