Great Lakes News Collaborative nets US Water Prize

In front of an international crowd of water researchers, policymakers, community organizers and other officials, the US Water Alliance announced the Great Lakes News Collaborative as the recipient of the 2022 award for “Outstanding One Water Communication.”

The awards presentation took place during the Alliance’s One Water Summit in Milwaukee. Great Lakes Now Program Director Sandra Svoboda and Michigan Radio Reporter Lester Graham accepted the award on behalf of the Collaborative, which includes Great Lakes Now, Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue and Michigan Radio, a group of media outlets that have worked together for two years now.

“If Flint taught us anything it’s that we have to do more,” Graham said during the ceremony.

The Alliance said the award was for “a slate of excellent and comprehensive coverage of water issues in the Great Lakes … these journalists are effectively driving the public conversation around water, the environment, and affordability.”

In May the Collaborative produced the “Water’s True Cost” project that included a series of articles, four engagement events, middle-school lesson plans built largely out of the journalism and Great Lake Now’s monthly television program. Find all the work HERE.

The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, which funds the four members of the Collaborative, nominated the group for the prize after seeing the work on “Water’s True Cost.”

“The series was a wakeup call for Michigan and the rest of the nation, as Michigan is often a bellwether for other states when it comes to water quality, affordability and infrastructure issues,” Mott officials wrote.

Great Lakes Now’s Sandra Svoboda and Michigan Radio’s Lester Graham on the stage while accepting the US Water Alliance’s communication award at the 2022 Water Summit in Milwaukee.

The US Water Alliance, based on Oakland, Calif., educates the nation on the true value of water and water equity, accelerates the adoption of One Water principles and solutions, and celebrates innovation in water management, according to its website.

The US Water Prize recognizes the individuals and organizations that are driving innovation in the water sector and imagining new possibilities in water.

Other 2022 One Water Prize winners were the City and County of Honolulu for their whole-of-government approach to holistic water management; and Healthy Community Services for their “Water Wise 7th Ward” project focusing on green infrastructure education in a majority-Black New Orleans Ward plagued by chronic flooding.

The 2022 US Water Prize winners were selected from a pool of more than 160 nominations and applications, according to the Alliance.

Catch more news at Great Lakes Now: 

Great Lakes News Collaborative examines Water’s True Cost

Water woes loom for Michigan suburbs, towns after decades of disinvestment

Featured image: Michigan Radio’s Lester Graham speaks during the US Water Alliance One Water Award ceremony in Milwaukee, accepting the communication award on behalf of the Great Lakes News Collaborative which includes Great Lakes Now, Michigan Radio, Circle of Blue and Bridge Michigan.