Kevin D. Sawyer
Contributor
Kevin D. Sawyer is a staff writer for the San Quentin News; he previous was the publication’s editor-in-chief. His work has appeared in outlets such as Columbia Journalism Review, Harvard Journal of African American Policy, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Harbinger, UCLA Law Review, Cal Matters, Bay City News, the Prison Journalism Project, and more. Sawyer is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the 2024 recipient of the award for Best Documentary Pitch at the inaugural San Quentin Film Festival and a 2024 Stillwater Award recipient for Best News story. In 2019 he received a PEN America honorable mention for nonfiction. In 2016 he received The James Aronson Award for Exemplary Community Journalism; and in 2014 he was on the San Quentin News team that won SPJ’s James Madison Freedom of Information Award. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in mass communication from California State University, Hayward, and a diploma as a paralegal/legal assistant from Blackstone Career Institute. In April 2023, Sawyer was offered admission to the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.
