MANCHESTER, NH – The Fifth Annual Brodsky Prize for Excellence in Student Journalism is now accepting applications.
New Hampshire’s preeminent high school journalism award is inviting submissions for The 2022 Brodsky Prize, established by Jeff Brodsky, a former editor of the Manchester Central High School newspaper to encourage out-of-the-box efforts and innovation by a new generation of student journalists. The $5,000 Brodsky Prize is open to all New Hampshire high school students, attending public, charter or parochial schools.
Gilford High School senior Serena Pugh is the first place winner of the 2021 Brodsky Prize, recognizing journalistic excellence and “out of the box” thinking by high school journalists.
Pugh will use her award to attend Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School in New York, with a focus on Journalism and Design. In her submission essay, Pugh wrote, “I realized journalism was my ideal career path when I saw all the craziness that 2020 had to bring and how journalists helped in diverse ways. Whether it was the election, COVID-19, the BLM protests, our environmental issues, or just staying connected with your community, journalism was the way we were all able to remain informed and almost together, while still being socially distant.”
In addition to Pugh, there were four other prize recipients. Finalists in Second Place (tie): Arrow Brown-Ryder of Manchester Memorial and Zachary Rioux, of Bishop Guertin, Nashua. Third Place Finalists (tie): Tyler Hughes of Winnacunnet High School, Hampton, and Daisy Macdonald of Hinsdale High School. The total 2021 awards were $10,200, the highest in the Brodsky Prize’s four-year history. Judging criteria included a student’s journalistic initiative and enterprise, as well as what Brodsky calls “a contrarian nature and out-of-the-box thinking.” Since many school newspapers have been challenged by the Covid pandemic, this year’s Brodsky Prize focused on student responses to essay questions, using a Solutions Journalism lens. THE BRODSKY PRIZE AWARD CRITERIA
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
High school students who live in New Hampshire and attend public, charter or parochial schools. Students who live in a neighboring state, but attend a NH School, are also eligible.
ENTRY CRITERIA:
Judges will consider a student’s journalistic initiative and enterprise, contrarian nature and out-of- the-box thinking, as well as other journalistic attributes such as spelling and grammar, attention-getting lead, fairness and accuracy and whether the entry clearly explains the issue it covers.
ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:
Submit an essay (up to 1,000 words) which answers one of the following questions:
How has the pandemic challenged your community and how could this lead to a more promising future?
How has the pandemic challenged your school and what positive changes could result?
How has the pandemic challenged you and your family?
Submit a brief essay (up to 200 words) on how you would use the award to further your journalistic studies or efforts.
Submit three examples of your journalism writing, with at least two examples having been published in a school-run publication or a local news outlet.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
March 31, 2022
QUESTIONS? 
loebschool@loebschool.org, subject line: Brodsky Prize
