Announcing Winners of the 2021 Distinguished Achievement & Media for a Just Society Awards
October 6, 2021 | by Evident Change
Evident Change is pleased to announce the winners of the 2021 Distinguished Achievement Award and Media for a Just Society Awards—given annually to recognize profound insight into the realities of social systems in the United States. These awards recognize media that further public understanding of adult justice, juvenile justice, child welfare, and adult protection issues.
What We Know: Solutions From Our Experiences in the Justice System is the winner of this year’s Distinguished Achievement Award. Co-edited by Vivian Nixon and Daryl V. Atkinson, the book brings together essays from two dozen people who were formerly incarcerated. What We Know offers solutions to an array of problems endemic to the US adult justice system. Some of the solutions are simple; some are more complex. However, they all come from the perspective of those with lived experience in the system.
The Media for a Just Society Awards recognize media in the categories of book, film, journalism, media by a person who is incarcerated, podcast/radio, TV/video, and youth media.
This year’s winners are:
BOOK
Privilege and Punishment: How Race and Class Matter in Criminal Court
Matthew Clair
Stanford University
FILM
The Prison Within
Katherin Hervey and Erin Kenway
Gravitas Ventures/Raw Love Productions
JOURNALISM
“When Innocent Until Proven Guilty Costs $400 a Month—and Your Freedom”
Aaron Cantu and Steenz
Vice
MEDIA BY A PERSON WHO IS INCARCERATED
“Little Gardens”
Nick Browning
Pen America
PODCAST/RADIO
“Escaping the Odds Podcast (Episodes 5 and 6)”
Aaron Smith
Escaping the Odds
TV/VIDEO
The Zo
Michael K. Williams and Molly Crabapple
The Marshall Project
YOUTH MEDIA
“Unadopted”
Noel Anaya
YR Media
We also want to recognize and congratulate the finalists for this year’s awards. You can read blog posts written by both finalists and winners here.
Evident Change commends all the finalists and winners for creating media that avoid sensationalism and instead look deeper, consider trends, and offer insight into our systems’ problems and solutions. Congratulations!