The Sidney Hillman Foundation has announced winners of their 2012 Hillman Prizes, given to journalists whose work identifies important social and economic issues and helps bring about change for the better.
Heather Vogell, Alan Judd and John Perry were recognized for their work on the Atlanta Public Schools’ cheating scandal. Throughout 2011, Vogell and Judd reported on the culture that led to cheating and administrators’ efforts to downplay the issue, building on reporting in 2008 and 2009 by Vogell and Perry that identified a pattern of suspicious test scores. The coverage led to a state investigation that implicated 178 educators in the largest school cheating scandal in American history.
The Hillman Foundation's awards this year also recognized stories about the struggles of families during the recession, fairness in immigration policy, contract workers on military bases, farm workers and battered women in prison.
