Tynes wins national investigative reporting award

Lagniappe’s own Gabriel Tynes was this year’s winner of the Association of Alternative Media’s David Carr Award for investigative journalism, it was announced recently. 

Tynes won a $500 award for coming out tops in the division for his series of stories “A Look Inside Alacourt.” Tynes looked into the company handling the state’s electronic legal filing system, overcoming information roadblocks to reveal the costs to the state. 

Tynes was a finalist along with journalists from Washington, DC, Colorado Springs and Boston. 

Lagniappe’s Alyson Sheppard was a finalist in the contest’s Food Writing category for her “Beer and Loathing” column. Kevin Lee, Lagniappe’s Arts Editor, was a finalist as well in the Arts Criticism category. 

Lesson learned

Mobile County Public Schools recently landed a national award for its classroom instruction broadcasts put together during the beginnings of the COVID pandemic, according to MCPSS Director of Communications Rena Phillips. 

Phillips said the system received a Golden Achievement Award from the National School Public Relations Association for its mcpssTV LIVE Lessons that were broadcast during the very early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“mcpssTV produced and aired 32 hours of high-quality classroom instruction weekly for grades pre-kindergarten through high school in the spring of 2020. The goal was to provide equity by allowing students to access the lessons from their television sets, from the internet and from social media sites,” she wrote. “Mobile County Public Schools set up a studio at a local middle school with four different classroom sets and a science lab. Classroom teachers from schools throughout the county lead live lessons in reading, math, social studies, science, art and music. About 150 educators were involved in the project, including interpreters who made the lessons accessible for students who are hearing impaired.”

Local television stations Fox 10 and UTV 44 served as partners for the project, and also aired the LIVE lessons. Phillips said this increased access to more students and served as a “first-delivery of instruction” for those who might not have access to either computers or the web. She also said the stations’ broadcasting of the lessons served as reinforcement for students who did have such access and were able to log on and receive lessons from their classroom teachers.

The LIVE Lessons have also been recognized by the Alabama Department of Eduction, the Alabama School Public Relations Association and Rethink High School, which is a national group. 

“NSPRA’s Golden Achievement Award recognizes exemplary work in school public relations, communication, marketing and engagement. Eighty-four top projects from school districts throughout the United States were selected for this year’s award,” Phillips wrote.