David Dennis Jr. ’08 Wins 2021 American Mosaic Journalism Prize
David Dennis Jr. '08
He’s taken on racists, sexists, and people who don’t vote.
In Atlanta Magazine, he explained how the history of anti-Black violence and racial injustice led to the death of a young Black man in Georgia at the hand of white vigilantes: Ahmaud Arbery Will Not Be Erased.
"I often write about the person who is the most marginalized voice in the room, so they feel less alone."
The Heising-Simons Foundation announced Friday that David Dennis Jr. ’08 has received the 2021 American Mosaic Journalism Prize. The $100,000 award is one of journalism’s biggest. It’s awarded for excellence in reporting about underrepresented people in the United States.
Dennis is a freelance writer, journalism professor and prolific social commentator whose work has appeared in many national publications. Besides writing for newspapers and magazines, he is currently working on the book, The Movement Made Us, about his father’s experience as a Freedom Rider in the civil rights movement.
“My work is all about telling the stories that need to be told, like Ahmaud Arbery’s, whose life was full of beauty and power beyond its tragic ending,” Dennis says. “These are the stories of people who are ignored and gaslit, whose perspectives are most often never shared in this country. I often write about the person who is the most marginalized voice in the room, so they feel less alone.”
