Student journalists from from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. traveled to New York City to attend the Pulitzer Prize awards ceremony at Columbia University on May 28, where Administrator Dana Canedy noted their perseverence in covering a tragic shooting on school grounds:
One of the students from the Eagle Eye said in a recent article in the Sun Sentinel newspaper that, 'English class doesn’t teach you how to write obituaries when you are in high school.' And yet, that is exactly what these student journalists did.
The Eagle Eye’s Pulitzer application stated that the student reporters and editors had to 'put aside our grief and recognize our roles as both survivors, journalists and loved ones of the deceased.'
These budding journalists remind us of the media’s unwavering commitment to bearing witness — even in the most wrenching of circumstances.
In the morning before the awards luncheon at Columbia University's Low Library, the students appeared on MSNBC with Stephanie Ruhle. They discussed the special issue of their newspaper, the Eagle Eye, which contained 17 obituaries of those in their community, as well as pieces on student activism related to gun violence, that was entered in the 2019 Pulitzer contest.
"When we decided we were going to apply for the Pulitzer Prize, I don't think we initially really expected to win or even get a mention at all. But what we wanted to do was show that the work of student journalists — it means something. Just because we're not working full-time, just because it's not our jobs, we're putting our hearts and souls into this work," Eagle Eye co-editor Rebecca Schneid told Ruhle.
Footage of the broadcast is available here.
The 2019 Pulitzer Prize winners in Public Service, the South Florida Sun Sentinel, who were honored for their coverage of the shooting, sponsored the student journalists' travel.
For more on the students' initial recognition during the April announcement of the Pulitzer Prize winners, read The New York Times coverage of their response here.