UofM Institute for Public Service Reporting Wins Prestigious Green Eyeshade Award
July 16, 2024 — The University of Memphis’ Institute for Public Service Reporting won first place in this year’s Green Eyeshade Awards. Judges awarded the institute the top prize in the journalism contest’s online public service reporting category for its entry, “Unraveling Police Abuse That Led to Tyre Nichols’ Murder.”
Now in its 74th year, the Green Eyeshades is the nation’s oldest regional journalism contest. Sponsored by the Society for Professional Journalists, it is open to entries from news organizations in 11 Southeastern states.
The institute’s winning entry featured stories by staff writers Laura Kebede-Twumasi, David Waters and Marc Perrusquia along with contributions by freelance journalist Jessica Jaglois. Their stories explored the long history of brutality and abuse that surrounded Nichols’ January 2023 beating death by Memphis police.
“This is a huge accomplishment for our organization,’’ said Perrusquia, the institute’s director. “We would like to thank the Green Eyeshade judges for this prestigious award. We are also indebted to the University administration, our funders and our reading public for their continued support and encouragement. Without them we could not do the type of in-depth, impactful investigative reporting that we’ve done now for the past six years and that matters so much to Memphis.”
Founded in 2018, the institute is an independent news organization housed in the Meeman Journalism Building. It has a two-fold mission: To explore and explain critical issues facing Greater Memphis and the Mid-South while mentoring the next generation of journalists through its Otis L. Sanford Journalist Incubator. You can visit the institute’s website here.
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Media Contact:
Jennifer Godwin
Director of Media and Public Relations
jennifer.godwin@memphis.edu
(O) 901.678.4822 (M) 501.529.7482