A reporter in Open Campus’s Local Network earned a first-place prize from a radio and TV news association for her coverage of pro-Palestinian protests at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Brianna Atkinson was recognized by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas on Nov. 8. She covers higher education at the public radio station WUNC, in partnership with Open Campus and NC Local.
Atkinson won in the radio series category for a two-part feature about UNC students reflecting on the April 2024 protests, one year later. The two students, Laura Saavedra Forero and Brendan Rosenblum, were on opposite sides of the protests.
Forero was a pro-Palestinian protester who lost a prestigious scholarship as a result of her participation in protests.
And Rosenblum attended the protest with an Israeli flag to represent his Jewish identity. He was among the fraternity members who held up an American flag when protesters tried to replace it with a Palestinian flag.
“For all their differences, they share a commitment to their cause and a deep humanity that has gotten lost in all that happened that day — and since,” Atkinson wrote.
A native North Carolinian, Atkinson has been on the higher-ed beat since 2023.
She is a member of Open Campus’s Local Network, a group of newsrooms in 18 places where Open Campus has helped put reporters full-time on the higher-ed beat. Reporters in the Local Network are employed at their local newsroom and supported by our team of subject-matter expert editors who provide essential story coaching, editing, and coverage planning.
About Open Campus
Open Campus is a nonprofit news organization that ensures communities have the independent information they need about higher education. By placing expert reporters in local newsrooms across the country, we help people understand and influence the institutions that shape their future opportunities.