“Joe Biden’s Stutter Highlights BU Center’s Mission”
Year: 2021
Award Level: Gold
Award Winner(s): Boston University
Award: Circle of Excellence
Category: Writing | News/Feature (1,000+ words)
From the Nominator
When Joe Biden was campaigning for president in the summer of 2020 in New Hampshire, he met a young boy, Brayden Harrington, who asked him for advice on how to deal with his stutter. Their interaction went viral, as Biden has spoken often and eloquently over the years about his own experiences as a child who stuttered. We used the moment between Biden and Brayden to pursue a story about BU’s Center for Stuttering Therapy, and the result was a beautiful feature story by staff writer Joel Brown.
From the Judges
This was an absolutely powerful story, and well told from so many perspectives, walking the reader through a journey of those who live with or support those who live with a stutter, demystifying and all-around humanizing the condition. Thank you.