Latest news with #EmilianoTahuiGómez
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Statesman reporters win Education Writers top honor for fatal Hays bus crash investigation
A team of Austin American-Statesman journalists who spent nine months investigating the state's deadliest school bus crash in nearly a decade last year received the highest honor Friday from the national Education Writers Association. The Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Education Reporting was presented to Latino community affairs reporter Emiliano Tahui Gómez, education reporter Keri Heath and Tony Plohetski, associate editor for investigations, who co-authored and oversaw the reporting. The prize, awarded in St. Louis at the group's annual conference, comes with $10,000. The team was selected among 14 of 17 category winners in the 2024 national awards for education reporting. The four-part series, 'A Fatal Field Trip,' investigated the March 2024 crash in Bastrop County involving a Hays school bus returning from a trip to a zoo. The crash killed a 5-year-old student on the bus and a man traveling in a car behind the bus after a concrete pumper truck crossed lanes and hit the bus. The driver of the truck was indicted on charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. The reporting team revealed how a school district's decision to deploy a bus without seat belts likely contributed to injuries and death; how a lack of regulation — and reduced enforcement of existing regulations — left a dangerous driver on the road; and how after the crash, families were left to fend for themselves because of a lack of programs and services to help them emotionally heal. The Education Writers Association also honored the work with a first-place prize in investigative and public service reporting. Judges wrote that the reporters "tied together disparate strands usually not woven in a news package." They added that they were "impressed by several aspects of this investigation: the deep sourcing with families and centering their stories; the excellent use of public records and analyzing the data related to buses with seat belts, inspections and more; and the 360 approach to the questions of what went wrong and what could have prevented this tragedy." Statesman Editor in Chief Courtney Sebesta said that the work exemplifies accountability journalism at its highest level. "There were so many layers of failure before and after this ill-fated event," said Sebesta. "These families deserved to know about regulation lapses and the public needs to understand the lack of resources available to help victims heal after an incident like this." This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Statesman journalists win EWA top prize for fatal bus crash coverage
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
American-Statesman journalists receive top honors from Society for Features Journalism
The American-Statesman received six top awards from the Society for Features Journalism in various categories for excellence in long-form storytelling. SFJ recognizes impactful, moving features stories across the country each year through its awards, which were announced Wednesday. Nearly 1,000 pieces were submitted to this year's national competition, according to the organization, and five Statesman reporters were among the winners. The Statesman received fourth place overall for 'Finest in Features Sweepstakes Awards,' among the top newsrooms honored in all 21 categories. Latino Communities Reporter Emiliano Tahui Gómez received two first-place awards for his 'enlightening' and strong reporting, judges said. Gómez won first place for a sports feature on a Venezuelan immigrant softball league in North Austin, and he received an honorable mention for his feature-writing portfolio. He and fellow Statesman reporters, Tony Plohetski and Keri Heath, placed first for a three-part series examining the 2024 fatal Hays school bus crash in Bastrop County. The three-reporter team also won third place for the same series in the features narrative category. The series has also been honored as a finalist for a 2025 Education Writers Award, which has yet to be announced. And the reporting team recently received an award from the Fort Worth chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists in general news writing. Judges called their narrative account of the bus crash an 'excellent retelling of the totality of this tragedy.' In the arts and culture criticism category for the national features contests, Matthew Odam, a longtime food critic for the Statesman, won second place for the 'clarity and vividness' of his writing, and Features Editor Deborah Sengupta Stith won third place for her 'beautiful' music reviews. The Statesman's Austin360 entertainment staff was awarded a prestigious international award Thursday from the International News Media Association for their Austin City Sounds event, which was held during the week between Austin City Limits Festival's two-weekend event last year. Awarded "Best Use of an Event to Build a News Brand," the team hosted a live music show at Guero's Taco Bar on South Congress Avenue featuring four Austin-based musicians and bands showcasing different stylings of the city's music. Statesman health reporter Nicole Villapando also won the Anson Jones Award on Thursday from the Texas Medical Association for her story on 10,812 Texas children who were unenrolled from Medicaid by the state and moved to another program with higher costs. Higher education reporter Lily Kenner earlier this year received a Texas School Bell Award for an outstanding feature on education issues for her story on the effects of the elimination of diversity-related jobs at the University of Texas. The award is administered through the Texas State Teachers Association. "I am immensely proud of the work our journalists produce at the Statesman," said Editor in Chief Courtney Sebesta. "They strive to tell the stories of every day Central Texans with compassion and honesty. Receiving recognition from our peers is a wonderful and humbling feeling." Other awards Statesman reporters have won this year can be found here and here. This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Statesman journalists receive top honors at national features awards
