Master’s Student Kasia Kovacs Wins 2016 Atwater Prize
The Annual Award Recognizes Outstanding Writing
Columbia, Mo. (May 16, 2016) — Missouri School of Journalism graduate student Kasia Kovacs is the 2016 winner of the Atwater Prize. The award provides a $500 stipend to one elite writing student each year.
Kovacs submitted three articles that were published in the Columbia Missourian to the contest.
- A Decade Later, Katrina Survivors Say New Orleans Is Still in Recovery, published Aug. 29, 2015.
- Quest for Justice Drives MU Hunger Striker to Grab ‘Things by the Root’, published Nov. 10, 2015.
- The Short, Controversial Life (So Far) of MU’s Leader, published Oct. 26, 2015.
The judges agreed that this was the overall toughest Atwater Prize competition they had seen in years. Work by each of the finalists was outstanding – engaging storytelling rooted in strong reporting in entry after entry, they said.
Kovacs is in her second year of her master’s program in investigative journalism. She has covered higher education and state government for the Missourian. Kovacs also works for Investigative Reporters and Editors, which is headquartered at the School. She heads to Washington, D.C., this summer to work for the American Press Institute and, in the fall, will participate in the Washington Program to wrap up her degree.
Kovacs also received a copy of Eudora Welty’s “One Writer’s Beginnings,” which was a favorite of the late Jim Atwater, former dean and faculty member of the Missouri School of Journalism. This annual prize is given in memory of his love of writing, this School and its students.
Updated: September 25, 2020