On the beat: Chris Peak (center) covering the Dalio education partnership.
The national Education Writers Association has honored Christopher Peak for his “watchdog reporting” on New Haven’s public schools.
The association named Peak a finalist in its beat reporting category for five stories he wrote in the New Haven Independent:
• Student-Shoving Principal Leaves Post
• City Weighs School Change 3.0
• Birks Paid “Volunteers” on the Sly
• Magnet Lottery Rigged for Suburbanites
• Untold Black & Latinx History Surfaces
“Christopher Peak’s stories showed a deep knowledge of how New Haven schools work and who is working them. His artful narratives were both tight and comprehensive, answering every question. Well-crafted, essential journalism,” the judges wrote.
“Christopher seems to me to be everything I think a beat reporter should be in terms of his knowledge of the community and ability to clearly communicate the issues facing it.”
Click here for a story about Chris’s new job with American Public Media and about previous awards he won at the Independent.