Category X - Amplifying Community Voices ( 10,000 and Over Dailies,5,000 - 10,000 Dailies,Under 5,000 Dailies)Back
Place Name: First Place Contestant Name: Fargo/Moorhead - The Forum Entry Title: Missing and murdered Indigenous Women of the Upper Plains Entry Credit: Natasha Rausch, Sara Mearhoff, Dana Ferguson Judge Comment: Is there a more urgent and timely example of amplifying voices than this special report’s amplification of the voices of so many missing Native American women who otherwise may never have a voice again? Tremendous public service. Now it is the Fargo Forum’s obligation to stay on the case – the many cases – to seek justice, voice, and an end to the disappearances.
Place Name: Second Place Contestant Name: St. Cloud Times Entry Title: Hope & Fear in Minnesota’s Heartland: Searching for refuge in St. Cloud Entry Credit: Austen Macalus, Randy Krebs, Dave Schwarz, Zach Dwyer, Lisa Schwarz Judge Comment: This important series centered on Somali immigrants in central Minnesota amplified under-represented voices well before almost all publications rushed to the cause in the wake of the George Floyd killing. This series raised deeply important civil and immigrant rights issues, as well as solutions.
Place Name: Third Place Contestant Name: Brainerd Dispatch Entry Title: Amplifying Community Voices Entry Credit: Brainerd Dispatch Judge Comment: The Dispatch didn’t earn this award by serving a diverse community. Brainerd is 91 percent white. The Dispatch earned this recognition for respectful, blunt, in-depth coverage of racial reckoning when it may have been easier not to.
