Former Connecticut Mirror Education Reporter Jessika Harkay has won the 2025 Livingston Award for Young Journalists, a prestigious national contest honoring reporting by journalists under the age of 35.
Harkay won in the Local Reporting category for her story about Connecticut resident Aleysha Ortiz, who graduated from Hartford Public High School in 2024 without ever being taught to read or write. The story outlines the circumstances that pushed her haphazardly through the school system without receiving instruction in reading or writing.
Reaction to the story was swift, with Connecticut lawmakers from both sides of the aisle raising concerns about the oversight of public school funding, some calling for a state review of Hartford’s finances during Ortiz’s time in the school system and many saying they would push for legislative reform to address the issues raised by the young woman’s case.
Nearly 100,000 people have read Harkay’s story, and following its publication, newsrooms including The Washington Post and CNN have covered Ortiz’s lawsuit against Hartford.
“The Livingston Award not only recognizes excellence in journalism, it recognizes a commitment on the part of news organizations to nurture and coach the young journalists who are the future of this profession,” said CT Mirror Executive Editor Elizabeth Hamilton. “We are thrilled for Jessika that her story about Aleysha has reached such a wide audience and garnered such accolades and hopeful that it adds meaningfully to the conversation about literacy and special education services in our public schools.”
Livingston Award Judge Maria Elena Salinas, an independent journalist who formerly worked at ABC News and Univision, called Ortiz’s story “fascinating.”
“The first few paragraphs of the article grab you. How is it possible that a young lady who graduated from high school and is now entering college was never taught how to read and write?” Salinas said. “Aleysha Ortiz’s story is fascinating not just because of the obvious failure of the Hartford public school system, but because of how this remarkable young woman is fighting for her right to learn in spite of her learning disabilities. Jessika Harkay, a 24-year-old education reporter for The Connecticut Mirror, stumbled upon Aleysha’s story and ran with it. In doing so she gave Aleysha a voice and prompted efforts to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
The Livingston Award was established in 1981. Each year, the judges — a group of accomplished journalists, many of whom hold leadership roles in large newsrooms — review hundreds of stories to choose one winner in each of the International, National and Local reporting categories. Past winners have included David Remnick and Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker and Christiane Amanpour of CNN.
This year’s international reporting winner was Nicole Sadek, 26, of International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, for an investigation titled “The Lost Village,” and this year’s national winners were Esmy Jimenez, 30, and Sydney Brownstone, 34, of The Seattle Times, in a partnership with KUOW Public Radio, for three episodes of the “Lost Patients” podcast.
Harkay’s last day at CT Mirror was June 6. Next month, she will begin covering education at The 74, a national nonprofit newsroom covering education in America.
