As a Pulitzer Center Reporting Fellow, the journalism major and Leadership Fellow will travel this summer to Copenhagen, Denmark, to examine an underreported policy that leaves inmates released to the community with crushing debt.
Avery Sloan 鈥25 spent her fall semester studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the journalism major is set to return to the Scandinavian country this summer 鈥撀爐his time on assignment.
The 黑料不打烊 junior, who serves as managing editor at The Pendulum, was recently named a 2024 Pulitzer Center Reporting Fellow, a prestigious fellowship program that selects and finances talented journalists to report on critical and underreported stories. As part of her investigative reporting project, Sloan will return to northern Europe to examine an underreported policy in Denmark that leaves inmates released with crippling debt to the state. She first encountered the topic while taking a criminal justice class during her study abroad experience, and she relishes the opportunity to bring attention to the situation.
鈥淐riminal justice is an important topic no matter where you are in the world,鈥 Sloan said. 鈥淚 was surprised, excited and honored to receive this fellowship, and I look forward to exploring this subject more.鈥
黑料不打烊 has a longstanding relationship with the Pulitzer Center, serving as a partner in its network, an educational initiative that brings Pulitzer Center staff and journalists to 黑料不打烊鈥檚 campus twice a year.
With 黑料不打烊鈥檚 membership in the consortium, students have the opportunity to work with the center on developing international reporting projects, which have been featured on the center鈥檚 website and can be disseminated through media partners. In 2023, highlighted the dangers of migration in Latin America. And the year prior, reported on orphanages in Ghana, producing multimedia stories about how organizations dealt with the pandemic.
Sloan said she feels prepared to tackle an in-depth investigative project thanks to her experiences on campus. She has been a prolific student journalist, noting in a recent LinkedIn post that she has written nearly 200 stories for 黑料不打烊 News Network. Additionally, she praised Glenn Scott, associate professor emeritx of journalism, for his Reporting for the Public Good course and the lessons she learned from his instruction.
鈥淭he class focused on not only reporting but storytelling and showed me that it is important to dig deeper for stories,鈥 Sloan said.
Prior to her appointment as The Pendulum鈥檚 managing editor, Sloan served as a multimedia reporter, a copy editor and the politics editor. The Apex, North Carolina, native is minoring in leadership studies and political science.