Reporting by Mountain State Spotlight’s Amelia Ferrell Knisely has received a Poverty and Inequality Award from the National Press Foundation for reporting on what works to alleviate poverty in the United States.
The award is for an October story that examined continued gaps in the state’s program for feeding public school students who were learning from home during the pandemic.
Judges praised the piece not only for illustrating the critical role public school systems play in alleviating poverty, but also for reporting on solutions.
“This is compelling journalism that highlights what is working,” said judge Krissah Thompson, The Washington Post’s Managing Editor of Diversity and Inclusion.
Knisely is a Report for America corps member and covers poverty for Mountain State Spotlight, a nonprofit newsroom whose mission is to help West Virginians improve our state by producing ‘sustained outrage’ journalism that exposes abuses of power by government, business and other institutions.