HEISING-SIMONS FOUNDATION
AMERICAN MOSAIC JOURNALISM PRIZE
The Heising-Simons Foundation, based in Los Altos, CA, works with its numerous partners towards sustainable solutions in climate and clean energy, enabling groundbreaking research in science, enhancing the educations of young learners, and supporting human rights of all people.
Their American Mosaic Journalism Prize rewards and empowers two freelance journalists with an unrestricted cash award of $100,000 each, for demonstrated excellence in long-form, narrative, or deep reporting on stories about underrepresented and/or misrepresented groups in the present American landscape.
Talking Eyes Media produced the American Mosaic Journalism Prize videos from 2018-2020. To learn more about the fellowship, the fellows and their projects, click here.
ABOUT THE PRIZE
2018: Valeria Fernandez
“Bearing witness to lives that are often absent from public view, Valeria Fernández’s work stands as testament to the trust people have in her to tell their stories with accuracy and compassion. Her journalism benefits from the kind of access that comes from years of relentless beat reporting. She brings great depth to stories of people who are often the most difficult for journalists to access, including families broken apart by the immigration system, and a new immigrant’s struggles with mental health.”
— 2018 Judging Panel
2018: Jaeah Lee
“Jaeah Lee’s writing gives readers a keen sense of the voices and concerns of those easily forgotten or neglected in the news. With a novelist’s sense of pace and character development, she takes readers deep into the lives of people affected by the nation’s justice system, including the heartbreak of a mother whose son was killed by police. Lee’s reporting on prisons and policing stands out for delving into the stories of people after the headlines fade, exploring different vantage points with complexity and empathy.”
— 2018 Judging Panel
2019: Abe Streep
“Abe Streep’s reporting bursts with compassion and urgency as he lifts up stories of often-overlooked communities in the American West, such as a Syrian refugee family building a new life in Montana, or a Native American high-school basketball team grappling with a flurry of suicides in its community. With great sensitivity, his work reveals the rich tapestry of cultures and lives that intersect in a part of the country far too often characterized by the stereotypes of an urban-rural divide.”
— 2019 Judging Panel