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Derrick Z. JAckson puffin

Derrick Z. Jackson receives Scripps Howard Award for COVID-19 coverage

EHN contributor and board member is honored for his 2020 COVID-19 commentary published in the Union of Concerned Scientists blog and Grist.org.

Derrick Z. Jackson received the Excellence in Opinion Writing award from Scripps Howard for his columns in Grist and the Union of Concerned Scientists blog on the U.S. COVID-19 response in 2020.


Jackson—an EHN contributor and board member of Environmental Health Sciences, which publishes EHN—wrote more than a dozen columns outlining the COVID-19 crisis' disproportionate impact on essential works and people of color.

"Derrick Jackson writes with the aplomb of one heavily armed intellectually and the vigor of a man determined to use his voice to right wrongs. His research and sourcing provide credibility, and his eloquent writing makes his work moving and memorable," the Scripps judges wrote.

Jackson, a Union of Concerned Scientist Fellow in climate and energy, is a veteran reporter and columnist and previously worked at the Boston Globe and Newsday. He's a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a 10-time award winner from the National Association of Black Journalists, a 2-time winner from the Education Writers Association, a commentary winner from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, and co-winner of Columbia University's Meyer Berger Award.

Follow Jackson's EHN columns here.

Banner photo: Derrick Z. Jackson holding a puffin chick in 2019 on Eastern Egg Rock.

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