From the Nominator

In summer 2020, after the George Floyd incident, we dumped our planned content and created a special issue on race. At that time, we vowed that, in addition to covering racially diverse subjects, we’d continue covering race and racism itself as a central issue of our time—and as a crucial part of our mission of connecting alums to one another. We’ve done this every year since. This past year’s series of articles reflect the broad and deep perspectives on race that come out of covering the topic continually, rather than as an occasional one-off. Our balanced profiles of prominent Black conservatives Glenn Loury and Larry Elder brought us words of praise from both sides of the political aisle, in letters and on social media, with readers expressing that they’d been surprised and learned something unexpected. We also profiled two seminal African American writers whose work deals with issues of race, slavery, and marginalization. And we published a deep dive into a class on Black culture that works as memoir, report, and profile, all in one beautifully written package. The stories have been among the top performers in our email newsletter, and we’ve gotten letters thanking us for the depth and nuance of our coverage. The Brown Alumni Magazine was founded by a group of alumni in June 1900 “to bring the university and its graduates into closer touch and sympathy,” and our ongoing coverage of race is fulfilling this central mission.

From the Judges

Powerful collection of pieces covering a topic that is of significant importance to national discourse and, more broadly, global society. Each piece is well written and covers the topic from different perspectives. A very strong entry and a smart pivot to be more responsive to alumni interests.