The News Literacy Project, which engages 7,000 educators and their students nationally and internationally, will join the Pulitzers for the 102nd prize announcement — both online and in person.
During an introductory virtual visit with students across the country this week, Pulitzer Prize Administrator Dana Canedy said, "I grew up in a small town in Kentucky, I was the first person in the history of my family on either side to ever go to college, and I was not a straight-A student. So what I want to say to you is that if I can do this, you can."
"I had something I was passionate about, which was writing, and I loved the question 'why?' and I combined that to become a journalist, and went from that small town in Kentucky to a career at The New York Times to writing a book [...] to now being the first woman and person of color to run the Pulitzer Prizes in one generation," urging students to find their own passions.
She went on to discuss her work and career further, as well as what makes a strong news story and a Pulitzer Prize winner.
Canedy fielded questions from students tuning in live from their classrooms, such as this one from Banting Middle School in Ohio: "How much do journalists worry about legal repercussions, especially when covering political stories?" Another wondered, "Could I have my own website, and post my own stories, and call myself a journalist?"
A student at Licking Valley High School in Ohio asked, "One major issue that journalists face today is growing distrust from the people. How would a journalist go about successfully communicating to the people about issues that are very important and timely, if trust for journalists is thinning?"
On Monday April 16, students will return to watch the livestream of the winners' announcement and hear from Pulitzer Prize Board Chairman Eugene Robinson, and a group of local New York City students will attend the live program at Columbia University.
The News Literacy Project provides young people with the skills they need to become smart, active consumers of news and information and engaged, informed citizens. The nonpartisan education nonprofit's founder and CEO is 2003 prize winner in National Reporting Alan C. Miller.
As the Pulitzer Prizes continue efforts to digitize their full archive, the News Literacy Project also will use the materials as part of its curricula.
For more information, read the News Literacy Project's release.
The full video of Canedy's preliminary conversation is available here.
The 2018 Pulitzer Prize announcement will be streamed live at Pulitzer.org on Monday, April 16 at 3 p.m. Eastern.