Lipman Center Announces 2022 Winners of $10K and $5K Fellowships

The Ira A. Lipman Center for Journalism and Civil and Human Rights is proud to announce its 2022 fellowship winners, journalists who will pursue reporting on issues of inequity and human or civil rights abuses.

The $10,000 fellowship recipients are: 

Tanvi Misra, an independent journalist whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The New Republic and elsewhere, for a project on the unaccompanied migrant girls who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border seeking refuge and safety but find something else instead.

Mya Frazier, an independent journalist and reporting fellow at the University of Missouri’s Watchdog Writers Group, for a project on housing as a human right in the era of the “automated landlord.”

The recipients of $5,000 grants for criminal justice reporting projects are:

Nicole Einbinder, senior investigations reporter, Insider, for a project that examines how the “deliberate indifference standard” makes it impossible for incarcerated people (largely nonwhite and poor) to seek justice for violations of the Eighth Amendment (excessive bail and fines, cruel and unusual punishment).

Lauren Gill, an independent journalist whose work has appeared in Slate, the Intercept, Insider and elsewhere, on the indigent defense system in Houston County, Alabama, where defendants must pay between  $350 to $3,000 for a court-appointed lawyer if they are found guilty.

“We're particularly excited about this year's fellowship recipients,” said Jelani Cobb, the Ira A. Lipman Professor of Journalism and Director of the Lipman Center. “These projects look at neglected elements of our immigration and housing issues with a keen eye toward the human rights issues at the center. We very much look forward to working with Mya Frazier and Tanvi Misra in the coming year.”

The Lipman Center, directed by Professor Jelani Cobb, an expert on history and race in the U.S., convenes leaders in journalism and civil and human rights and conducts research around social justice issues. The center enhances the academic experience of current journalism school students by contributing to curricula design and developing student activities inspired by the center’s work. At the heart of the center’s mission is the establishment of annual fellowships intended to produce significant civil and human rights reportage. The center also administers the Initiative in Reporting on Race and Criminal Justice, a reporting project for local newsrooms to investigate systemic racism in the criminal justice system.

For more information about the Lipman Fellowships, please visit: https://journalism.columbia.edu/ira-lipman-fellowship