Freelance journalists win $100,000 prizes for work impacting underrepresented communities

NEW YORK — Two freelance journalists with projects focused on black nationalism and the aftermath of the Uvalde school shooting have won the American Mosaic Journalism Prize, an award that recognizes work about underrepresented groups in the United States.

The journalists, Dara T. Mathis and Tamir Kalifa, each received $100,000 from the Heising-Simons Foundation. It is believed to be the largest award in dollar value given to journalists in the United States.

Maryland-based Mathis was honored for her article in The Atlantic, “A Blueprint for Black Liberation,” in which she wrote about growing up in a radical black commune and the broader history of such movements. She is working on expanding that piece into a memoir.

“As a Black writer, I am acutely aware of how the stories of marginalized people are excluded from the archive,” Mathis said. “My work as a journalist tries to connect silent histories with our current times.”

Photojournalist Tamir Kalifa won for his work on the aftermath of the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Austin-based Kalifa is currently in Israel covering the war between Israel and Hamas.

Kalifa said he has spent the last years of his career documenting the resilience of people in the face of tragedy.

The foundation’s annual award was established in 2018.