Since graduating from the University of Miami in 2005, Tampa Bay Times reporter Alexandra Zayas has regularly covered a variety of subjects, most prominently the Hillsborough County court system. But her byline was absent for a good part of 2012 as she worked on an exclusive investigative piece, which for several months she refused to tell outsiders (i.e. non Times employees) about.
In late October, the story finally hit. "In God's Name" is a three-part series examining unlicensed religious homes in Florida.
Among Zayas' findings: Throughout the past decade, state authorities responded to at least 165 allegations of abuse and neglect, but homes remained open even after evidence of sexual abuse and physical injury, including children who were "bruised, bloodied and choked to unconsciousness in the name of Christian discipline."
On Monday, Zayas' hard work was recognized when she was awarded USC Annenberg's 2013 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting.
This article appears in Feb 21-27, 2013.