POY RJI | Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute

Category: Documentary Daily Life

First Place

Cora Engelbrecht, Yousur Al-Hlou and Ben Laffin / The New York Times
“Meet the Afghan Women Fighting to Protect Their Rights”

Second Place

Larry Buchanan, Aaron Byrd, Alicia DeSantis and Emily Rhyne / The New York Times
“Where Are All the Bob Ross Paintings? We Found Them.”

Third Place

Joe Coscarelli, Alexandra Eaton, Will Lloyd, Eden Weingart, Antonio de Luca and Alicia DeSantis / The New York Times
“‘Old Town Road’: See How Memes and Controversy Took Lil Nas X to the Top of the Charts”

Award of Excellence

Kassie Bracken, Matt Richtel and Ora DeKornfeld / The New York Times
“Revenge of the Bacteria: Why We’re Losing the War”

Award of Excellence

Sean Gallagher, Charlie Phillips, Claudine Spera and Jacqueline Edenbrow / The Guardian
“Uncaged: saving China's songbirds from the poachers' nets”

Award of Excellence

Jessica Koscielniak and Duy Linh Tu / McClatchy & Fort Worth Star-Telegram
“The Wait at Matamoros”

Award of Excellence

Bill Laitner and Eric Seals / Detroit Free Press
“A Haircut and Healing”

Award of Excellence

Katie Falkenberg / Freelance
“The Shepherdess”

Award of Excellence

“A Haircut and Healing”

A touching and heartfelt first person story written by my Detroit Free Press colleague Bill Laitner and my video about the loss of his wife Eren who was his “forever barber" and the steps he took to find a new barber in their neighborhood.

While working on this I couldn’t help but feel for Bill’s loss and what he’s been going through since Eren passed away in April.

Searching for normal: A grieving Detroit writer goes looking for a new barber

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