The Lens wins four first place awards from Press Club of New Orleans

The Lens took home top honors in the education reporting, continuing environmental reporting and government/political reporting categories.

The Lens won four first-place awards and several additional top honors from the annual Press Club of New Orleans awards in 2024.

Awards:

First place in Feature Reporting/Serious Feature: Katy Reckdahl for “Revell Andrews: Picture of Potential”

First place in Education Reporting: Marta Jewson and Katy Reckdahl for “Living School Mom asks School Board: What’s more Important, Test Scores or Actual Students?’”

First Place in Governmental/Political Reporting: Nick Chrastil and Katy Reckdahl for “A Group of ‘Violence Interrupters’ Worked the Streets of New Orleans to Prevent Retaliatory Shootings – Until they were Sidelined Two Years Ago”

First Place for Continuing Coverage: Delaney Dryfoos and La’Shance Perry for “David and Goliath: River Parish Residents take on Greenfield

Second Place for Environmental Reporting: Delaney Dryfoos for “Marathon Proves Why it was the Last Refinery Built in the U.S.”

Third Place in General News Reporting: Katy Reckdahl for “The Car Never Started”

Third Place in Still Photography: La’Shance Perry for “Phase III Protest”

Marta Jewson

Marta Jewson covers education in New Orleans for The Lens. She began her reporting career covering charter schools for The Lens and helped found the hyperlocal news site Mid-City Messenger. Jewson returned to New Orleans in the fall of 2014 after covering education for the St. Cloud Times in Minnesota. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with majors in journalism and social welfare and a concentration in educational policy studies.

Jewson has covered New Orleans schools for 15 years through the nation's largest education reform experiment. She was a founding member of the outlet's Charter School Reporting Corps and was instrumental in holding schools accountable to sunshine laws during the rapid expansion of charter schools in the city.