My name is CD Davidson-Hiers and I'm a native Floridian. I grew up on a horse farm in a rural Panhandle town where swamps and rivers were closer than the beaches.
I covered K12 education and later, also, the COVID-19 pandemic for the Tallahassee Democrat & USAToday. My work documenting the rollout of vaccines in Florida received national and international recognition by: the Washington Post, NPR, Poynter, and others. I was recognized with a Public Service in Journalism award by USAToday. But after a year on two breaking news beats, I took a break from daily news coverage to recover.
I now work for the Education Writers Association, assisting education reporters across the U.S. with their work, and freelance on environmental topics. I have bylines at The Bitter Southerner, Flamingo Magazine, The Nation, The Marjorie, Nautilus Magazine, Orion Magazine and elsewhere. I've won awards for reporting on survivors of trauma and gun violence, and for an investigation into the collapse of a school busing system on the first day of school.
I most enjoy being outdoors, which is where I turn my journalism attention now - writing about the plants, animals, ecosystems and places that make our planet a home. I'm working on a Masters in narrative nonfiction and journalism at the University of Georgia.
I run a student journalism mentorship program, the Florida Student News Watch, which you can read more about on the FSNW page above. I'm a licensed EMT in Florida.
I do know how to relax, I just get itchy if I sit for too long.
Cheers,
CD