Three Michigan State University journalism seniors — Alex Walters, Owen McCarthy and Theo Scheer — have been named the 2024 Student Journalism Winner by the Education Writers Association (EWA) for their in-depth project series, “Inside the Nassar Documents,” published in The State News.
The team was recognized for what judges called “the fullest account to date” of MSU’s internal response to the Larry Nassar scandal, based on a review of thousands of pages of previously unreleased documents. Their reporting uncovered new details about how the university navigated one of the most significant crises in its history.
“The Nassar documents project was doing our job communicating to readers how MSU operates, why it makes the decision it does and the impact they have on people — even if that work is tedious and requires reading 6,000 pages of documents,” said McCarthy. “It took collaboration and concentration to meet the moment, but we felt our responsibility was heightened by the scale of people who were affected by the Nassar scandal and MSU’s handling of it.”
“After years of community advocacy for their release, we felt called to look through every page of the 6,000 documents detailing MSU’s handling of Nassar,” Scheer added. “We found a rare, unfiltered look into how the university responded to the scandal. It’s gratifying to be recognized for this work, which wouldn’t have happened without my two dedicated reporting partners.”
This marks the second consecutive year that The State News has received the national student journalism honor, awarded by EWA to spotlight exceptional reporting on education. Walters was also honored in 2023 for his coverage of Title IX policy and enforcement at MSU.
In a statement announcing the award, one judge commended the students’ tenacity.
“My hat is off to these students for quickly organizing an effort to comb through a huge trove of documents that were released in a way that officials would hope would make it so hard to search and read that it would stay out of public view. The reporters worked quickly amid their usual classes and other work to get a series of impactful articles out.”
The project also earned first-place honors in a regional Society of Professional Journalists competition and was awarded first place for newswriting in a semiannual contest sponsored by the Associated Collegiate Press, further affirming the team’s investigative strength and editorial excellence.
“We have never before and will probably never again get this sort of opportunity to look beyond polished published statements and see how MSU’s leaders actually talked about survivors and strategize amid scandals,” said Walters. “It was a unique opportunity to get inside conversations the public are ordinarily kept far away from.”
All three students are continuing to grow their reporting skills through competitive internships this summer: Walters with the Dow Jones News Fund in New York, Scheer at The Chronicle of Higher Education in Washington, D.C. and McCarthy as a Dow Jones News Fund Business Reporting intern at The Detroit News.
The Education Writers Association is a national nonprofit dedicated to supporting high-quality education journalism. The student award, now in its second year, is part of EWA’s mission to highlight emerging talent in the field while reinforcing journalism’s role in fostering transparency and accountability.