At the Chicago Journalists Association’s (CJA) annual awards ceremony held at Newberry Library, 60 W. Walton St., on Nov. 11, The TRiiBE was among the media outlets that won.
Co-founders Tiffany Walden and Morgan Elise Johnson won the Sarah Brown Boyden Award in the Arts category for the article “Chance The Rapper is ready to take his next creative risk.”
About the article, judges commented, “It’s easy to do a profile piece on a musician or an artist and highlight their genius. It’s far more difficult, as this multimedia piece did, to show them in new, risky areas and out of their comfort zone. Chance the Rapper draws you in, but the reporting, writing and elements keep you there.”
In a statement, Johnson said, “I entered into this work as a documentarian when I co-founded The TRiiBE in 2017. I was interested in exploring how the best parts of film and journalism could work together. It’s been affirming to be recognized as an award-winning journalist for the first time. No matter if you want to call me co-founder, publisher, filmmaker or journalist, I’m a storyteller seeking to redefine what community-centered news can do for Black liberation.
“The Chance interview was the first time that I put my directing hat on in three years—but the video form is my first love and there will be more of this type of storytelling in The TRiiBE’s future.”