Molly Minta, our higher education reporter at partner Mississippi Today earned a second-place honor in the 2024 Green Eyeshade Awards for her coverage of a controversial hire at Delta State University.
The Green Eyeshade Awards recognize the best journalism in the southeastern United States. Molly’s award is in the non-deadline reporting/online category.
Molly spent months gathering records and conducting sensitive interviews for her reporting on Delta State and Kent Wessinger, the person hired to run its music department. Wessinger took over the department after the former chair was brutally murdered. Wessinger proved to be a chaotic leader for the grieving department. Molly’s reporting also detailed his lack of experience in academia and she uncovered an alleged history of domestic violence.
The reporting led to Delta State faculty taking a vote of no-confidence in the dean of the liberal arts college.
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