Searchlight reporter is a finalist for a national award

(Courtesy of Wallace House Center for Journalists, University of Michigan)

South Dakota Searchlight’s Makenzie Huber is a finalist, with Annie Todd, formerly of the Argus Leader, for a Livingston Award from the Wallace House Center for Journalists at the University of Michigan.

Huber and Todd are finalists in the Local Reporting category for their November 2023 collaborative series, The Lost Children, examining the causes and solutions for the overrepresentation of Native American children in South Dakota’s foster care system.

Makenzie Huber

The center announced 2024 finalists Wednesday in local, national and international reporting. The awards support young journalists and honor the best reporting and storytelling by journalists under the age of 35 across all forms of journalism. The finalists were chosen from more than 400 entries for work released in 2023.

“In a particularly difficult period of journalism downsizing, it’s an honor to recognize the ambitious work of young reporters,” said Lynette Clemetson, director of the awards and the Wallace House Center for Journalists. “This year’s finalists share a commitment to truth, accountability, nuance and empathy at a moment in which these qualities can often feel in short supply.”

This year’s winners will be announced on June 11 at an in-person awards ceremony hosted by Ken Auletta, media writer for The New Yorker and author.

Huber, a lifelong South Dakotan, has worked as a reporter for South Dakota Searchlight since its launch in 2022. South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and donors.

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