Schneider Disability Reporting Contest Is Now Open

The National Center on Disability and Journalism at Arizona State University is accepting entries for the second annual Katherine Schneider Journalism Award for Excellence in Reporting on Disability. Administered by the NCDJ at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Schneider Award is the first national journalism contest devoted exclusively to disability coverage. The award is made possible under a grant from Katherine Schneider, a retired clinical psychologist who also supports the Schneider Family Book Awards operated by the American Library Association. The first-place winner is awarded $5,000 and receives an invitation to speak at the Cronkite School. The second-place winner receives a $1,500 award, and additional honorable mention awards of $500 may be given at the discretion of the judges. The contest is open to print, broadcast and online entries, which must be published or aired between July 1, 2013, and June 30, 2014. The entry deadline is July 31, 2014, at 11:59 p.m. MST. Participants can apply and find more information at http://ncdj.org/contest/. “People with disabilities make up nearly 19 percent of the U.S. population,” said NCDJ Director Kristin Gilger, associate dean at the Cronkite School. “This contest recognizes the outstanding work of professional journalists who are providing visibility to important disability issues.” Last year, Ryan Gabrielson, a reporter for The Center for Investigative Reporting’s California Watch, won the inaugural Schneider Award for a series exposing the routine failure of police to protect the developmentally disabled at California care institutions. The award-winning package of stories, “Broken Shield,” included an accompanying animated video by Carrie Ching and Marina Luz. The second-place award in last year’s contest went to Gareth Cook for his New York Times Magazine piece “The Autism Advantage.” Two honorable mention prizes also were awarded. They went to Daphnée Denis and Hoda Emam for a video documentary, “Playing by Ear.” The second honorable mention award went to Broughton Coburn for a long-form piece he wrote for Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, titled “Second Chapter: A Portrait of Barry Corbet.” “The journalistic skills displayed by last year’s winning entries were awesome,” Schneider said. “There were lots of good entries, and we’re hoping for even more this year as the award becomes better known. It’s worth entering for the possible chance of winning an opportunity to speak at the Cronkite School, to say nothing of the prize money.”