CHICAGO — Rachel Hinton, a reporter for Block Club Chicago’s investigative team, The Watch, will be honored with the Distinguished Alumna Award by DePaul University’s Center for Journalism Integrity & Excellence on Thursday.
Before joining Block Club in August, Hinton was an enterprise reporter for the Illinois Answers Project, the newsroom arm of the Better Government Association. She also spent four years at the Sun-Times covering city, county and state politics, culminating with being named chief political reporter.
In 2023, while at the Illinois Answers Project, Hinton was part of a team that was awarded the Peter Lisagor Award for Best Political and Government Reporting category for revealing failures in the state’s foster care system. She is also a 2023 Maynard Institute fellow.
Hinton’s work at Block Club has included reporting on problems with the Chicago Housing Authority’s scattered site program, efforts to address homelessness and the demand by community activists for more alternative policing methods.
In previous roles, Hinton uncovered how Lightfoot’s lofty Invest South/West program failed to include the residents it aimed to help and showed how the city has only spent a fraction of the federal dollars it got to address homelessness.
A 2017 graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism, Hinton served as an editor for The DePaulia, the school news outlet, winning two Associated Collegiate Press awards. She also served as president of DePaul’s chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and was a peer writing tutor.
“From the moment we first met Rachel, it was clear she would make her mark in journalism,” Don Moseley, who directs the center along with veteran journalist Carol Marin, said on the center’s website. “To do so in such rapid fashion speaks to her innate ability and her unrelenting tenacity.”
Hinton described DePaul as the “launch pad for my career in journalism. My classes and time at The DePaulia are the building blocks of my career.”
Curtis Lawrence, Block Club’s senior editor of investigations, said The Watch team is fortunate to have Hinton aboard.
“Rachel’s drive, professionalism and passion for journalism that speaks for those who sometimes feel their voices aren’t heard has already made an impact at Block Club Chicago,” Lawrence said.
Hinton will be honored Thursday at a luncheon at the Union League Club. Also being honored are ABC news veteran John Quiñones, who will be honored with the Distinguished Journalist Award, and media executive Marty Wilke, who will receive the Distinguished Mentor Award.
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