Excellence in Written Reporting, News
Cecilia Lei, “Bay Area Japanese Americans Draw on WWII Trauma to Resist Deportation Threats,” KQED
ABOUT THE WORK: One of Trump's earliest executive orders when he re-entered the White House was to invoke the Alien Enemies Act to quickly deport undocumented migrants in the U.S. As news stories started referencing the centuries-old wartime law, there were only brief mentions of how the act was used to incarcerate Japanese and Japanese Americans during WW2. My story quickly met the moment by spotlighting the local Bay Area Japanese American community that was already mobilizing and organizing to protest potential use of the law, which had led to generations of trauma in their community. In this story, I spoke to both survivors of the WW2 incarceration camps, and young Japanese American activists to demonstrate the intergenerational community organizing that was taking place, and how the Japanese American community was leveraging their own family histories and experiences to help build solidarity with other vulnerable immigrant groups that are being targeted by the Trump administration. The story helped propel the work of one organization in particular, Tsuru for Solidarity, and helped link the current moment to the painful WW2 experience of Japanese families. Especially as the survivors age and the number of survivors who are still around to share this history start to shrink, it was important to resurface this story in the news cycle at that very moment.
Cecilia Lei is a reporter, producer and podcast host based in the Bay Area. She covers immigration, the criminal legal system, AAPI issues, as well as other local communities. Her work has appeared in KQED, Apple News, SF Chronicle, NPR and Vox Media. Cecilia is also a co-founder of COYOTE Media Collective, a worker-owned newsroom in the Bay Area.
Honorable Mention: Amy Qin, “This Man Won Birthright Citizenship for All,” The New York Times
Honorable Mention: Kyeongjun Kim, “Sent Back, Left Behind: Korean Lives After U.S. Deportation,” The Korea Daily
New or renewing members will be acknowledged at Gala and may not be reflected here.