A team of student journalists at The 9th Street Journal has won the 2026 Frank Barrows Award for Excellence in Student Journalism for a series on Durham’s most reliable voters.
The award was presented Friday to student journalists Katelyn Cai, Valentina Garbelotto, Paige Stevens, Reece MacKinney, Noor Nazir and Jack Regan.
For the series, students analyzed Durham voting records, identifying a small group of devoted locals — 1,934 in all — who have voted in every local general election for the past 20 years. In a series of stories, they profiled some of those dedicated voters, including a Democratic activist, a former mayor, a Republican retiree and N.C.’s oldest living resident, a Durhamite who still votes religiously at age 113.
In presenting the award Friday, Pate McMichael, director of the N.C. Open Government Coalition, praised the team’s work as “inspiring.”
The Frank Barrows Award recognizes collegiate journalists “whose work exemplifies the vital role of open meetings, public records, and press access in public life.” It honors Frank C. Barrows, a former managing editor of the Charlotte Observer and a founding members of the N.C. Open Government Coalition.
It’s the third time in recent years that 9th Street Journal students have been tapped for the statewide award. The 9th Street Journal won the Barrows Award in 2024 for the series “Under the Radar,” which explored Durham’s little-known government boards and commissions. A 9th Street reporter also won the award in 2021 for a story about the death of an inmate.
Pictured above (from left): Paige Stevens, Noor Nazir, Valentina Garbelotto, Katelyn Cai and Reece MacKinney received the 2026 Frank Barrows Award along with photographer Jack Regan (not pictured).
