By Victoria Mejicanos
AFRO News Staff Writer
vmejicanos@afro.com
Word In Black, a national newsroom and research lab that works in partnership with the AFRO and 9 other Black newsrooms across the country, has been nominated for a first-of-its-kind NAACP Image Award.
Anissa Durham, a health data journalist for Word In Black, received the nomination in the Outstanding Literary Work in Journalism category for her reporting series, “On Borrowed Time.”
The raw account of how Black people in need of organ transplants are impacted by providers, policies and the medical system at large captured audiences nationwide.
According to Liz Courquet-Lesaulnier, the managing director of the publication, this is the first year the NAACP has a journalism category, making the nomination all the more significant.
Courquet-Lesaulnier applauded Durham’s ability to gain the trust of sources across the nation and said it is a testament to the way the Black Press is embedded in the community, similar to the NAACP.
“People trust us because they know there’s no other hidden agenda,” said Courquet-Lesaulnier. “We’re not trying to make anyone look bad. We’re not looking at them from a deficit lens. And I think that’s very true of the NAACP as well. The way that the NAACP has always been able to operate in the community is from a place of love and protection, and I think that’s very true for us.”
Credit: Courtesy Photo
Durham and Courquet-Lesaulnier said that this series has been years in the making. Durham has known since the beginning of her time at Word In Black that she wanted to work on stories regarding organ donation in the Black community, but it was not until recently that there was enough time and resources for them to explore the possibility of a series like “On Borrowed Time.”
Durham was given a $2,500 grant from the Association of Healthcare Journalists which she used entirely on hiring freelance photographers to capture people across the nation for her series. Even then, she shared there are still many resources needed for members of the Black Press.
“It’s just a testament that, even though we don’t have the resources, imagine how much more we could be doing if we got the resources, how many more awards, how much more award winning journalism we could be doing if we were funded as adequately or as much as the New York Times.”
Courquet-Lesaulnier expressed her hope for Word In Black to win in this category because of what it would mean for not just the publication, but the Black Press as a whole.
“I want people to understand that working for the Black Press should be seen as a destination, and this is also why people should invest financially in the Black Press, so that we can do more of this work.”
On Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 at 8:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM PT viewers can watch the 57th NAACP Image Awards live on BET.