Zipporah Osei, a senior at Northeastern University, has won the 2019 David W. Miller Award for Young Journalists, which honors one Chronicle intern from the past academic year.
In selecting her for the $3,000 prize, the award committee cited the ambition of Osei’s stories, their rich, balanced sourcing, and her expressive language and eye for detail.
Osei, like all candidates, submitted three articles for the panel’s judges to consider.
Reporting daily news about the Johns Hopkins University’s efforts to install its own police force, Osei saw potential for a deeper story, given the history of police violence in Baltimore and existing tensions between Hopkins and its neighborhood. Going beyond officialdom to talk to people in the community, Osei conveyed the national context of the story and showed how a huge university’s regional influence can be a two-sided coin: “Hopkins casts a long shadow,” Osei wrote, “and some residents are tired of living in it.”
A second story described “teach out” arrangements offered to students who are stranded when their colleges shut down. It revealed that the labor involved in making those arrangements work “can be more than administrators bargained for.” Osei spoke to officials involved in both sides of three such arrangements, as well as to students, about the expectations and surprises they’d encountered along the way.
The third story examined how the exemption from property taxes enjoyed by the 28 colleges in Boston affects the city, which draws 70 percent of its revenue from such taxes. Interviewing activists as well as college and city officials, Osei brought a technical topic to life, and used data to demonstrate that the gap had grown between what Boston asks colleges to contribute in alternative payments and what they actually pay.
“That story was one I had tried to write multiple times while I was a student,” said Osei, “and I think having The Chronicle helped me get access to tell a story I knew was important. I was grateful to be able to talk to people who had ignored my calls.”
I’ve always wanted to write about equity issues, and education is something that affects everyone in the community.
Osei, a journalism major, followed her internship at The Chronicle with one at Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news organization that covers elementary and secondary education. She said she’d like to continue writing about education after she graduates, in May.
“I’ve always wanted to write about equity issues, and education is something that affects everyone in the community,” she said. “As a college student I’ve been able to see how college can change someone’s life. And universities are small cities in and of themselves, with so much going on that it’s never boring.”
The Miller Award commemorates David W. Miller, a senior writer at The Chronicle who was killed in 2002 by a drunken driver while returning home from a reporting trip. Miller, who was 35, left a wife and two young children.
In presenting the award, The Chronicle seeks to recognize promising young journalists who exemplify the traits and values that Miller brought to his journalism: a passion for people and ideas, a commitment to strong writing, and a dedication to balance and fairness.