Morgan’s School of Global Journalism and Communication Honors 2022 Vernon Jarrett Medal for Journalistic Excellence Award Recipients at The National Press Club

Morgan State University's School of Global Journalism and Communication (SGJC) has awarded the 2022 Vernon Jarrett Medal for Journalistic Excellence to Wesley Lowery, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author, and contributing editor at the Marshall Project, for his poignant reporting on the Philadelphia Inquirer’s history of racism in covering the Black community. Lowry’s widely praised report “Black City. White Paper,” has earned him prestigious medal for journalistic excellence in addition to a $10,000 prize award.

For just the third time in the history of the award, there was also a runner-up. Yanick Rice Lamb, a journalism professor in Howard University’s Cathy Hughes School of Communications, as well as a doctoral candidate, also received a medal and a $7,500 prize award for her report “Unintended Consequences: The Rubber Industry's Toxic Legacy in Akron.”

Both were honored during a special ceremony held at The National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on April 6.

In declaring the winners, prize judges said of Lowery’s work: “‘Black City. White Paper’ is trenchant, cinematic storytelling of a great metropolitan newspaper located in the birthplace of American democracy that must confront its shortcomings. For generations it has catered to white suburban readers and largely ignored its Black population. George Floyd's death one time zone away accelerates the urgency to act. Lowery compellingly shows us what is at stake. Bravo.”

While Lamb’s deep dive report was praised by judges as “an exemplary piece of research about deindustrialization and its impact on a marginalized community. The storytelling is compelling and comprehensive, engaging the reader all along the investigative road as you discuss the continuing harm caused by the rubber tire factories by Black residents in your hometown.”

“Like the judges, I was blown away by the power and detail of this year’s entries,” Jackie Jones, dean and professor of Journalism for SGJC. “Wes and Yanick’s work not only meets the criteria for the Jarrett Medal but delivers on the promise that having Black people in the newsrooms of this country provides variety and perspectives that not only serve under-covered communities but expands the knowledge base for all of us.”

In addition to his medal and prize award, Lowery, who also serves as a visiting professional at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, will also be assigned a summer intern from the School of Global Journalism and Communication.

The Vernon Jarrett Medal is awarded to a journalist who has published or broadcast stories that are of significant importance or had a significant impact on some aspect of Black life in America.

The award is named for the late Vernon Jarrett, a pioneering African American columnist who wrote for the Chicago Defender, the Chicago Tribune, and the Chicago Sun-Times and who used his columns and long-running radio and television shows to educate Americans about the nation’s legacy of slavery and segregation. Jarrett was a founding member and former president of the National Association of Black Journalists. 

Previous Jarrett Medal winners are:

• Kaye Whitehead, WEAA-FM public affairs host and associate professor at Loyola University (2021)
• Errin Haines, of The 19th and Adam Serwer, of The Atlantic (2020)
• Audra S. Burch, of The New York Times(2019)
• Philadelphia Inquirerand Daily News columnist Helen Ubiñas (2018)
• Philadelphia Inquirerand Daily News reporter Mensah Dean (2017)
• Kirsten West Savali, a writer, cultural critic and associate editor of The Root (2016)
• Stacey Patton, then, a reporter for The Chronicle of Higher Education(2015)

About the School of Global Journalism & Communication 

The School of Global Journalism & Communication was created in July 2013 and led by Dean DeWayne Wickham, a former columnist for USA TODAY and a founding member and former president of the National Association of Black Journalists. Current Dean Jackie Jones is a veteran reporter and editor, who has worked at several newspapers across the country, including New York Newsday, The Philadelphia Daily News and The Washington Post. The school is dedicated to giving voice to people who struggle to contribute to the public discourse that shapes the nation and the world through innovative teaching, cutting-edge research and exemplary service to Maryland, the nation and the world. The school seeks to instill in students the skills, knowledge and training necessary to become effective communicators and to add to the diversity of thought in the media. 

About Morgan State University 

Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering more than 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland’s Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.

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Media Contacts:

Larry Jones or Dell Jackson, for University PR
443-885-3022