Bloomberg News Wins George Polk Award for Education Reporting
Award recognizes investigative series on for-profit colleges
February 23rd, 2011
Press Release
NEW YORK — Bloomberg News has won the George Polk Award for Education Reporting for its investigative series on the for- profit college industry. The award recognizes reporters Daniel Golden, John Hechinger and John Lauerman for a series of articles revealing how for-profit colleges have mushroomed into a $30-billion-a-year industry over the last decade by targeting underprivileged populations who qualify for federal financial aid.
The “Education Inc.” series uncovered for-profit colleges recruiting veterans, active-duty military men and women, minorities, and the homeless in order to gain access to federal loan aid. The year-long series led to government scrutiny and helped set the agenda for reform.
“What began as a business story on for-profit education companies in the stock market has developed into a national public interest story due to the extensive reporting of the Bloomberg News education team,” said Matthew Winkler, Editor-in- Chief of Bloomberg News. “Dan Golden, John Hechinger and John Lauerman and their colleagues have relentlessly pursued this topic, uncovering what was previously an overlooked industry.”
This is the third Polk award for Bloomberg News, which was recognized in 2009 for a series of stories seeking transparency from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and in 2006 for health reporting on human drug testing. Since its inception in 1990, Bloomberg News has won more than 500 awards.
Stories from the award-winning series can be found online: Bloomberg Investigation: For-Profit Colleges
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Contact:
Kristin Swenson, +1 212-617-4264, kswenson@bloomberg.net