Nation’s Most Prestigious Magazine Awards Select Mother Jones as Finalist in Three Categories
The nation’s most prestigious magazine awards recently selected Mother Jones as a finalist in three categories: general excellence (among news outlets focusing on Literature, Science, and Politics), reporting, and video. The American Society of Magazine Editors released the list of finalists last week, and will announce winners March 28 in New York.
“Mother Jones appreciates being recognized for our provocative and investigative journalism, particularly since the competition is so fierce, going up against the biggest names in the news industry,” said Mother Jones Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery. “As a reader-supported, nonprofit news organization we have to be scrappy, and yet we hold our own when it comes to exposing injustices and holding powerful people accountable.”
The general excellence award is considered the top honor for magazines in the United States, and is based on a news organization’s overall content appearing across print, website, and social media. Mother Jones has been named a finalist for the award 11 times since 2001, and won it in 2001, 2008, and 2010. In 2017, it also won Magazine of the Year, an award no longer given.
In addition, the awards committee selected Mother Jones as a finalist in the reporting category, for a yearlong investigation by reporter Samantha Michaels: “She Never Hurt Her Kids. So Why Is a Mother Serving More Time Than the Man Who Abused Her Daughter?” The story examines the “failure to protect” child abuse laws that result in women being sent to prison for longer than the male partners who abused their children. Of hundreds of people charged since 2009 under Oklahoma’s law, at least 90 percent of those incarcerated were women, and disproportionately Black women. After reading the story, state legislators in Oklahoma and Virginia expressed interest in reforming their respective laws.
The “failure to protect” investigation yielded another honor for Mother Jones, this time as a finalist in the video category. The 17-minute documentary, “She Never Hurt Her Kids. So Why Is She in Prison?” was created by Mark Helenowski and Samantha Michaels and explores the story of Kerry King, a Black woman who experienced domestic violence and yet received more prison time than her abuser under Oklahoma’s law.