From the Nominator

"A pair of peregrine falcons has nested on UC Berkeley's 307-foot bell tower, the Campanile, since late 2016. They arrived here without names, but over time, they and their offspring were adopted by the campus, given names in public contests, provided with a better nest, shown to the world 24/7 via three webcams, and had their lives followed by people in more than 40 countries through content produced by UC Berkeley and Cal Falcons. 

The media, including The New York Times and LA Times, have run stories about our well-known birds. The public watches the annual hatching of the chicks on our art museum's giant LED outdoor screen and observes the young birds' fledging off the tower at a yearly Fledge Week event. During COVID, people in lockdown—sometimes ill and struggling—said watching the falcons and their seemingly steady lives on the webcams was a comfort. 

But the tables turned in late 2021 and all of 2022, when it was the falcons' lives that turned dramatic. Stories in this entry detail the 2022 ups and downs of these beloved raptors—Annie's disappearance and return, Grinnell's death, Alden's arrival, the unexpected hatching of two eggs, young Lindsay's death and more. 

I have written about the birds for years, but in 2022, with the public's attachment to Annie and her family at an all-time high, I reported every turn of the unfolding drama."

From the Judges

Captured something fun and interesting to a campus community—demonstrated through other activities previously—and seized that momentum in a package of interesting pieces. Clear understanding of target audience and solid research were also noted.