State News senior reporter Alex Walters won the 2023 Student Journalism Award from the Education Writers Association for excelling in reporting on Title IX issues facing the MSU administration.
The three stories recognized included stories of a student who was told to trust MSU with her rape report, but was then disbelieved; GVSU leaving MSU in the dark on a faculty member's misconduct; and Brenda Tracy saying the leak of her name came from the MSU boardroom.
The judges said Walters' ability to explore the consequences of the challenges at the Office of Institutional Equity as well as chasing documents that are withheld from public records requests required "constant ingenuity," leading to getting access to stories and documents even outside investigators could not obtain.
"These stories display dogged reporting: acquiring confidential records, building deep sources, understanding complex issues," a judges' comment stated on the reporting. "The stories uncover important details. The level of difficulty couldn't be much higher for a student news story."
Chris Richert, general manager at The State News, said he was honored to have Walters on the staff.
"It is so exciting to see one of our great reporters getting significant recognition for all of his hard work," Richert said.
Liz Nass, editor-in-chief of The State News, is excited to see that all of the hours of Walters' staying in the newsroom late and going through piles of papers paid off on the national scale.
"His work has defined what our mission is here at The State News, making MSU be accountable to their students," Nass said. "I can't wait to see what he does in the next year."
Walters beat out two competitors for the award including the Harvard Crimson for their reporting on the resignation of their university president.
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