By Megan Wehring
DRIPPING SPRINGS – You never know where life will take you.
Haley Willis, a 2015 graduate of Dripping Springs High School, is in her fourth year on the visual investigations team at the New York Times. She was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes – the most prestigious honor for American journalists – earlier this year.
The annual awards, founded in 1917 by Joseph Pulitzer, are given by Columbia University in New York City for outstanding public service and achievement in American journalism, letters and music.
“It’s great to see the work recognized, and it’s not even close to being just me on both of these projects,” Willis said. “There were upwards of a dozen people involved and I’m really happy to see all of those colleagues recognized for the work that they do. The award stuff in journalism can be kind of hard because it feels strange celebrating when you know the content and what the work is about. All you can hope is that your work will bring attention to that issue.”
The Pulitzer Prizes were for two projects that Willis contributed to. International reporting was recognized for exposing the vast civilian toll of U.S.-led airstrikes, challenging official accounts of American military engagements in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan.
National reporting was recognized for what was considered an ambitious project that showed a pattern of fatal traffic stops by police, which illustrated how deaths could have been avoided.
“It’s great that we work on these with big teams,” Willis commented on the severity of the issues that she covered, “because you have that support and these are important issues. I’m glad the Pulitzer will draw attention to them.”
Willis has been interested in issues of human rights, advocacy and journalism from a young age.
When she left Texas to attend the University of California, Berkeley, Willis decided to study sociology because it broadly covered all of those topics. For three years during her college career, she was part of a research lab called the Human Rights Center Investigations Lab.
“Essentially, those types of skills [learned at the lab] and how we analyze footage applies very closely to the job I now do at the Times,” Willis said. “That’s kind of how I got into journalism sideways; I did not study journalism. The team that I am on has a very technical skillset, and I developed that through this research.”
Willis’ hometown roots in Dripping Springs helped paved the way for her success.
“Marissa Tuzzi was my cross country coach and is still a really great friend of mine,” Willis said. “[She] is one of the most genuinely caring people that there is. That empathy rubbed off on me in the work that I do. Rachel Koske, for many many years, was the theatre director at Dripping Springs High School and had a similarly big impact on my life. She encouraged those of us who were in the theatre department to be open-minded and welcome people, and ask questions. The people I was surrounded with at the time had a huge impact to getting me to the point where I am now.”
