The Red & Black, an independent student newspaper serving the UGA community, and reporters Julia Carpenter, Jacob Demmitt and Mimi Ensley have won the seventh annual Betty Gage Holland Award, which recognizes excellence in college journalism.
A series of stories by the Red & Black reporters examined claims of sexual harassment against university professors and found that on more than one occasion the names of accusers were not redacted on documents provided by university officials. The university has since changed its policies to better protect anonymity in sexual harassment claims.
The student reporters filed open records requests, reviewed guidelines of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and talked with university officials, the accused and accusers when examining sexual harassment claims. Their efforts helped identify weaknesses in how this type information is prepared and shared.
The annual award honors the late Betty Gage Holland, a long-time friend of journalism education at UGA. An award of $1,000 goes to the reporters and $1,000 to The Red & Black.
