The second annual Stillwater Awards, which recognizes excellence in prison journalism, awarded a College Inside contributor first place in its Best Illustration category.
Juan Hernandez is an artist and writer incarcerated in Illinois. He has been working with College Inside, an Open Campus newsletter about the intersection of higher education and criminal justice, since 2024.
The Stillwater Awards are co-sponsored by the Society for Professional Journalists and the Prison Journalism Project and were launched last year to acknowledge the professional work that incarcerated writers and artists are doing behind bars.
This year, 23 judges chose from 227 entries in nine categories, up from eight judges and 165 entries last year. The judges included professional journalists, college journalism professors, a former attorney, and a graduate student studying prison education.
Hernandez’s winning illustration, “Doing for Ourselves,” highlights the ways in which incarcerated people take charge of learning and creative expression for themselves and others. The judges praised Hernandez for his command of both his topic and his folk art style. “In one image, outsiders get a visceral sense of life on the inside,” they wrote.
Hernandez submitted a statement to be read during the award ceremony on Thursday. “In an environment meant to control and suppress, we incarcerated artists find the motivation day in and day out to create, to inspire, and to break barriers on what we can do from behind these walls,” he wrote. “This determination has led us towards a path of rehabilitation and recognition where I am truly honored to have my art next to these amazing artists who strive through enormous difficulties to contribute their creativity to the outside world.”
Charlotte West, the Open Campus reporter covering higher education in prison, also spoke on behalf of Hernandez. “I love how he tackles serious issues inside, but also the way that he has a little bit of a sense of humor in his art,” she said.
“Doing for Ourselves” was also recently featured as the cover art for College Inside’s print collaboration with Prisoncast!, an audio and journalism project organized by our local partner WBEZ Chicago.
Hernandez has been incarcerated in Illinois since the age of 16 and is currently serving a 45-year sentence. He was born and raised in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. His art has been exhibited at Angelica Kauffman Gallery, Art in Odd Places NYC, and The Design Museum of Chicago, among others. In April, his work was shown at the National Conference for Higher Education in Prison in New Orleans. His work can be found on Instagram and his website.
He is currently an Open Campus fellow following the Prison Journalism Project’s journalism training curriculum.
This is the second year in a row that the Stillwater Awards have recognized College Inside contributors. In 2024, contributor Lyle C. May won first place for Best Op-Ed for his essay “Y’all aren’t here to be rehabilitated,” which examined his experience attending college from North Carolina’s death row.
About College Inside
College Inside is published by Open Campus and written and edited by Charlotte West, the only reporter in the country dedicated to covering prison education. Her expertise has shed new light on the most-pressing challenges facing incarcerated students and how issues like student debt, the return of Pell Grants for incarcerated students, and limited access to technology are shaping education and career paths during and after incarceration. Open Campus reporting on prison education is supported by Ascendium.
About Open Campus
Open Campus is a nonprofit news organization that ensures communities have the independent information they need about higher ed. By placing expert reporters in local newsrooms across the country, we help people understand and influence the institutions that shape their future opportunities.